Outcome of the Mikal Bridges trade is still uncertain for the Knicks

The notorious trade that sent Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets to the New York Knicks is still being put into question over a year after the fact.

Last summer, the Knicks acquired Bridges from the Nets in exchange for a whopping five first-round picks, and several players. The trade was met with both supporters and critics. Some felt Bridges could be what the Knicks needed to make a run for the title, and others felt the Knicks overpaid for his services. 

It was a weird first season for Bridges in New York. He averaged 17.6 points per game and shot 50 percent from the field, but he struggled with consistency on both ends of the floor. In a case of basketball irony, Bridges arguably catapulted the Knicks into the Eastern Conference Finals with his game-winning defensive plays in Games 1 and 2 of the team’s second round matchup with the Boston Celtics. The Knicks would go on to win the series in six games. 

CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn is one of those critics. He mentioned the possible risk that the Knicks took by giving up as much as they did for Bridges, and the amount of pressure it puts on the franchise to win with him. 

“Every time a better player is moved for a lesser or equal price, there will be questions about whether the Knicks were wrong to trade for Bridges,” Quinn said. “That criticism will be at its loudest whenever Giannis Antetokounmpo’s future is settled and, on some level, it's warranted. For now, look at the Bridges trade as the Eastern Conference equivalent of Minnesota's Rudy Gobert gambit. Was it an overpay? Probably.”

Quinn also mentions that the Knicks likely need to win a championship with Bridges, otherwise the trade’s legacy will be marred by disappointment, and coming up short. 

“The Bridges trade got the Knicks within six wins of the title. If they hover around that area for the next few years, even without winning a title, the deal's legacy is more complicated than the outright loss many will peg it as,” Quinn said. “It can be the wrong move without being a bad one. And if they do reach the Finals? At that point, their level of team success will have been great enough to justify the trade regardless of the price they paid to make it.”