Mikal Bridges Joins His Villanova Brothers in New York

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Greetings, my peeps. Welcome to the All Things Basketball

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podcast with your boy GD. In this special episode, guys, I was at the Commissioner Cup.

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I was a little disappointed there, but the news came across on my phone.

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Mikal bridges to the New York Knicks in a trade. So I'll talk about that.

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It'll be a quick episode, but I have to get into it. So just sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

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Okay, guys, it's your boy GD back with the All Things Basketball. All Things Basketball with GD

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podcast. I'm so excited. Can't even get it out. But guys, as I said in the opener, I just got home

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from the Commissioner's Cup watching the Liberty play. Actually, they did play in Barclay. They

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played in UBS Arena. So the Liberty fans had to migrate from Brooklyn to Elmont, which is the

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earlier part of Long Island. And there we watched the game and unfortunately, the Liberty lost.

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So what can you do? I'll report on that later. But as I was heading towards the train, I look

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at my phone, I see this wold bomb and saw a picture of Mikal Bridges. I was like, okay, so I guess

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the net saw moving him. Then I saw it was to the Knicks. I was like, are you in? So let's talk about

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the terms of the deal, guys. So the nets and what I didn't think would ever happen. I'm a person who

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says that the owner, Joe Tsai, he would rather walk across the glass across the Brooklyn bridge

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before he trades a Nets player to the Knicks. But I guess for this haul, he had to do it.

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So Mikal Bridges going to the New York Knit along with a second round,

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2026 pick from the Nets. But this is what the Knicks give up. Bojan Bogdanovic,

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who they got from Detroit in the midseason trade, a guy who was averaging 20 over there for Detroit.

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But when he got to New York, he played a different role where he's coming off the bench.

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So he averaged 10 points, so half his average he got. So we're sending him and he's on an

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expiring contract actually, guys, 19 no, yeah. And the Knicks also send full unprotected first

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round pick for the following years 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031. So that's full unprotected there.

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Wait, there's more. A one first round protected pick

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for 2025. And that's actually a pick that belongs to the Milwaukee Bucks.

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So that's another pick that you're dealing with. Then there's a 2028 unprotected

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swap that they'll do with the Brooklyn next. So you have to see what the records are and so forth.

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And that's in 2028. And then a 2025 second round pick. So all in all, it's looking like seven

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picks that you gave for unprotected first, a protected first, and then a picked swap, which,

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you know, that could swap the evil way. So I guess it's probably six in reality,

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along with the second round. So all of that plus by Bogdanovic, who are

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Mikal bridges, who all by the way, he's making over 23 million next year. And just a shade under

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25 million following year. And Mikal bridges, this is what he did with the next.

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When he got traded, remember, he came in and trade for KD. In those 27 games, he played

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a shooting guard position, averaging over 26 points per game, four and a half rebounds, and

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a bit under three assists. He shot it well, 47 and a half percent from the field,

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37.6 from three and nearly close to 90% from the free go lot. So that was outstanding.

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The following season, which was last season, 2023 and 24, they shifted him to small forward.

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And they did that to give room for guys like him, Thomas. So he played all 82 games.

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I mean, he's not going to miss a lot of games, guys. He's been very healthy throughout his career.

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So with him as the focal point, he had with 19.6 points per game. He still had the four

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and a half rebounds. He had more assists, 3.6 field goes shooting was bad because he was

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the focal point. So teams were looking to stop him 43.6% from the field, 37.2 from three. And then he

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dropped 8% from the free so why at 81.4. So there you have it as far as his numbers.

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What does this mean for the New York Knicks? This means now.

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I don't know if you guys are aware, but OG Anunoby, he opted out. So now he's a

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unrestricted free agent. All signs of pointing to him wanting from what I hear 35 million a year.

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There's a lot of bread. A lot of bread guys. But and when he was in there, he was golden guys.

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But you know, he does have an injury riddled history. Make no mistake about it. So I guess the Knicks

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in their mind, they say, you know what, instead of having this guy holding us over a barrel,

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maybe we can make this here move. So and comes from the kale bridges. And this is similar to

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I think for the Knicks. This type of deal was available for a Donovan Mitchell. They would

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have made it. But remember Danny Ainge got greedy. So he wanted more than four

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first round unprotected pay plus he wanted players. So I think this is the type of deal

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that the Knicks would have loved to do to get a Donovan Mitchell, but that didn't come to

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fruition. Enter Mikal bridges, someone who they need a two way player, somebody who could get

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his offense. Yeah, I like it. I like the move. I think you know, familiarity matters, culture

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matters. And he brings all that to the table guys. He has a rapport with Jalen Brunson with

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Josh Hart with Donte DiVincenzo. So you have that chemistry there, obviously from there,

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Villanova days. So that's a plus. And this is a guy who Tom Thibodeau will fall in love with

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the way he defends the way he gets up in there. So I think it's a no brainer in that regard.

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I think Josh Hart will be your kind of ginsu knife, you know,

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Jack of all trades. So he could come in he can he could spell the two he could spell the three he

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could spell the four position as well. So I think that will still be Josh part of that'll be his

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calling card. So I'm looking at if form holds in the Knicks don't do anything else. I'm looking at

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a lineup of Brunson, DiVincenzo, I think he earned it. Also, Mikal Bridges, Julius Randle.

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And I think the Knicks are leaning towards Hartenstein. Isaiah Hartenstein over a Mitchell

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Robinson, I think that's their leaning later. But I think that's the way it's shaking out guys.

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And that's a solid squad. That is a solid squad. You're bringing a heart off the bench. You still

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have Deuce McBride. I know people are clamoring for a backup point guard to spell Brunson.

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Brunson. I think Deuce can be that backup. But what do I know? But yeah, so you know, this move.

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I think Leon Rose did the prudent thing here.

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I don't think he was going fishing for a Devin Booker. I don't think he was going fishing for a

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Paul George. I don't think that was in the cards for the Knicks. So I think that the next best thing

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you bring in a guy who can fit right into the system, a guy who you could plug in,

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you could put them in multiple spots. You know, if something were to happen to 

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DiVincenzo he could slide to the two guard and then possibly you move up a Josh Hart. So this

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gives the Knicks a lot of flexibility, I think. And you know, it is funny because Jalen Brunson

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had a sit down interview with Taylor Rooks. If you guys get a chance, watch that interview.

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It's well worth it. Anyhow, in that interview, actually, Mikhail Bridges said something slick to

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Brunstn and he made us to listen to that joke about, well, at least I'm not a Brooklyn Net,

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which in hindsight now is pretty funny now that Mikal has been traded to the Knicks.

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So definitely cool to all around. Great job. Leon Rose. I know people are going to scream,

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oh, but you're giving up so many draft picks. Listen, man.

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Draft picks, I understand they're like this commodity these days, but the Knicks still

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have other people's draft picks. So even if they gave up their four, they're still straight

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because they got from other teams. So when you get a chance to get a guy like this that you

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could add to your team, a guy who can fit in seamlessly, I think you do it. No questions asked.

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So I applaud the Knicks for doing this. Who was out there that she was going to bring in?

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Paul George? I don't think Paul George was coming here. Jimmy Butler's I heard somebody talk about

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Jimmy Butler. Pat Riley would rather buy a suit off the rack before he makes a deal with

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New York Knicks. That's what I'm telling you. So Jimmy Butler, he ain't coming here guys.

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Joel Embiid. No, I don't see that even. So this is the deal you make. And

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you're good to go. So this puts you right in the conversation underneath a Boston Celtics,

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Milwaukee, I'm still not convinced with Milwaukee. I know people say, Oh, maybe you hold out for

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Giannis. You don't know what's going to happen over there with Giannis and with Damian Lillard. So

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the Knicks did the right thing in doing this move. That's how I feel. But this was of supreme

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importance for me to jump on and give a little take on that. So yeah, so I am a happy Knicks fan

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today. I think we've definitely gotten better. That's for sure. And look,

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you know, when all is said and done, you want a chance at the championship. Julius Randle,

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he went on mellows, podcasts, the guy sounds hungry, man. And he sounds like,

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you know, he was so distraught over the fact that the Knicks were making their run in clear

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on without him. He wanted to be part of it. So I think he's going to come back with a hunger.

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I think he's going to come back and fit in with what's there. And I just see good things happen

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in New York. So when you wake up tomorrow morning, Nick fans, you should be happy with this deal.

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Here. You gave up draft capital fine. And we have a draft that's going on tomorrow. Well,

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Wednesday. So a draft that there's no real buzz about. If you have these kind of drafts coming

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down the pike, giving up draft capital like this, don't hurt you all that much. So

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especially if the long term goal is to get the chip, and I think bringing in a Mikal Bridges

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gives you one step closer to get the chip. That's the way I feel. All right, guys. So that's it for

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me. Allthingsbasketballwithgd.com is the website. You can find me there. All my buttons are there

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to support the show. I went to a Commissioner's Cup tonight. I got some content there. So

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yeah, so

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support the show guys. I got a Spotify button on my website, PayPal button on my website,

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And then Twitter and X. All right, so that's it for me. I thank you for listening as always.

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We'll talk soon. Right now, WNBA is in full effect. So we'll be talking about that. They got an all-star

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game coming up, which I'll be going to. I brought you a lot of stuff. I'm going to be talking about

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that. They got an All Star Game coming up, which I'll be going to. I'll break down the Commissioner's Cup.

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I'll break down the draft, you know, as best as I can with the draft and of course, free agency and

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summer league and all that kind of stuff coming up. All right guys. So thank you for listening.

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As always, we'll talk soon. Take care.