Mikal Bridges represents the present for the New York Knicks, who are competing in the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference and aspire to make a lengthy playoff run.
Bridges also is a part of the recent past, and what the Brooklyn Nets hope is a productive future for a team that is approaching the two-year anniversary of pivoting away from a roster built around superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Bridges on Tuesday night will return to Brooklyn for the first time since being traded when the Knicks visit the Nets.
Bridges, 28, was acquired by the Knicks in July for five first-round picks after averaging 21.2 points in 109 games for the Nets. He was the centerpiece of their deal that sent Durant to the Phoenix Suns at the 2023 trade deadline. The Nets, in turn, were swept in the first round of the playoffs in 2023 before tumbling to a 32-50 record last season.
The deal was the first of two blockbuster trades for the Knicks, who reached the second round of the playoffs last season. They also acquired Karl Anthony-Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves for Julius Randle shortly before training camp opened.
Bridges scored 22 points in New York’s 124-122 win over the Nets on Nov. 15 and finished with 21 in a 114-104 victory over Brooklyn two days later.
The Knicks are enjoying an eight-game winning streak against the Nets. New York, however, heads into Brooklyn with six losses in its past 10 games since a nine-game winning streak from Dec. 15-Jan 1.
The Knicks are coming off a 119-110 home win over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday. Jalen Brunson scored 34 points and Bridges added 26 while contributing to a defensive effort that held Trae Young to 1-of-8 shooting from the floor in the fourth quarter.
“It’ll cool to be back to see my teammates, see the coaching staff that I was there with for some months before I got traded,” Bridges said.
Bridges was dealt shortly after Jordi Fernandez was hired as head coach by the Nets, who are in a rebuilding phase that has resulted in a different roster than the November meetings.
Dorian Finney-Smith and Dennis Schroder started the previous meetings and were traded to the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors, respectively.
Cam Thomas scored 43 points in the first meeting but will miss his 10th straight game with a strained left hamstring.
Brooklyn is 1-8 since Thomas re-injured his hamstring Jan. 2, and the Nets are 5-19 since winning three straight Nov. 24-27.
Brooklyn will play 10 of its next 12 at home after losing five contests on a six-game road trip. The Nets are attempting to stop a seven-game home losing streak after absorbing a 127-101 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.
“We’re looking forward to this home stretch,” Brooklyn forward Cameron Johnson said. “I don’t know what it is out of the next 15 games, but a lot of them are at home. So we’ll look forward to playing in front of our fans again, and getting comfortable playing at home.”
–Field Level Media
