The Nets traded Mikal Bridges, accelerating their rebuild.
Bridges moved across the East River to the rival Knicks, and Brooklyn brought home a huge draft pick sum reminiscent of the big money they got for Kevin Durant.
In another trade, they got back some natural picks from Houston, signaling a pivot to a full-scale rebuild.
The Nets agreed to send Bridges and a 2026 second-round pick to the Garden in exchange for four unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027, 2029, 2031), a protected 2025 first-round pick via Milwaukee, an unprotected 2028 pick swap, a 2025 second-round pick and veteran shooter Bojan Bogdanovic.
“This is crazy lol,” Bridges tweeted when the news broke, which was first reported by ESPN and confirmed by The Washington Post.
In separate moves Tuesday night, Brooklyn got back its 2026 first-round draft pick from Houston and the Rockets gave up the rights to the Nets’ 2025 first-round draft pick in a swap.
Brooklyn had to give up the right to trade a 2027 first-round draft pick via Phoenix for the Suns’ 2025 first-round draft pick. Houston also received the more favorable of Dallas’ or Phoenix’s 2029 first-round draft picks.
Since being the centerpiece of the Durant trade, Bridges has become one of the most coveted assets across the league.
The Nets had already rejected an offer from Memphis to return four first-round picks and most of the picks they acquired in a trade from Houston.
But the move also sheds light on why general manager Sean Marks and Nets owner Joe Tsai have been reluctant to move Bridges thus far.
Sources told The Post during the season that Bridges not only wanted to join the Knicks, but was secretly plotting to make it happen so he could reunite with former Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo.
Still, the Knicks would have had to out-blow offers to pry Bridges away from Brooklyn, which they did.
This was the first trade between the Nets and Knicks since 1983.
In April, Bridges claimed he was planning to move back to Brooklyn.
“Yeah, 100 percent. I’m not looking anywhere else,” Bridges said. “I’m not thinking about a contract at all. I’m just looking to get back. My biggest goal this summer is to do better than I did this year. I’m going to take a lot of what I’ve learned and put it to use.”
“Obviously, it’s not what I wanted or what we wanted as a team, but I can’t sulk about it. I didn’t play my best and that’s OK. I might get hated, but I’ll just get in the gym, get better and learn from it. My intention is definitely to stay here. I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
He will now be in Manhattan while Brooklyn is being rebuilt.
Bridges averaged 19.6 points and 4.5 assists last season, but his value will likely decline.
Part of what attracted him to other franchises was his team-friendly contract, but he’s already played out half of that deal.
The small forward is due to be paid $23.3 million next season and $24.9 million in the final season of his current four-year, $90.9 million contract.
Bridges is eligible to sign a two-year extension on Oct. 1 and can also sign a three-year, $113 million extension within the next six months.
As the end of that agreement approaches, his stock price is likely to plummet.
Marks made a profit on Tuesday.
Bridges had criticized the team’s direction shortly before head coach Jacque Vaughn was fired during the All-Star break, and the Nets struggled under interim manager Kevin Ollie, going 32-50.
This was the worst tally since 2017-18.
Now, having hired Jordi Fernandez, who was named NBA Assistant of the Year by NBA GMs, Brooklyn has the money in the bank to rebuild.
The Nets will have some salary-cap space once Ben Simmons’ burdensome $40 million contract expires next summer.
Now they have access to not only money, but also one of the richest pools of draft assets in the entire league for the next few years.
The 35-year-old Bogdanovic will return to Brooklyn, where he began his NBA career in 2014.
He came off the bench for the Knicks and averaged 10.4 points in 29 games.
