Mikal Bridges is a quality player who provided a nice return for the Nets, and Brooklyn now needs to use that return in their rebuild.
The Nets nabbed five first-round picks and a first-round pick from the Knicks to acquire Bridges, who has never been an All-Star, but that trade, along with another deal with the Rockets to acquire 2025 and ’26 picks in a loaded draft, was a statement of intent: an intent to fail.
The Knicks’ contract ensures that they will have at least a losing season or two, while the Rockets’ contract ensures that they will profit from those ugly defeats.
Nets owner Joe Tsai and general manager Sean Marks have opted to overhaul the franchise and acquire Cooper Flagg or another top prospect with what is expected to be a great 2025 NBA Draft.
They tried to slowly build a team around Bridges, bouncing between the two teams, but couldn’t land an All-Star running mate for him: Damian Lillard was never in negotiations, Donovan Mitchell never showed up and Giannis Antetokounmpo was a pipe dream.
Tsai was determined not to be in limbo any longer, but now his Nets are headed for a hellish descent even Dante would fear.
Bridges seemed disillusioned in Brooklyn, and when the Nets spoke to teams about him, a league source told The Washington Post their demands were “excessive.” They offered one team six first-round draft picks, according to ESPN. They nearly got what they were offered.
Sources have told The Post for months that Bridges specifically wanted a reunion with Villanova at the Garden. There were no issues with the contract and Bridges was more valuable to the Knicks than any other championship-contending team.
But Marks and Tsai were determined to force the Knicks to blow past all other offers, and that’s exactly what happened.
The Knicks gave up five first-round picks — their unprotected picks in 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031, plus a protected 2025 first-round pick from Milwaukee. That’s one more than the first-round pick the Nets got for Kevin Durant, and it allows them to generate a $21.7 million trade exception, according to cap expert Yossi Gozlan.
Brooklyn already has 16 first-round draft picks and could move Dorian Finney-Smith or Cam Johnson.
According to Cleveland.com, the Cavaliers “like” Johnson and would “be involved” if he were available. Cleveland has the 20th pick in Wednesday night’s draft.
But many of those picks will likely be low-balls, and the stars the Nets need to make this rebuild work will likely require additional acquisitions from next summer’s trove of cap space and their own picks in the next two drafts.
The Nets could have as much as $100 million in cap space in 2025 with the expiring contracts of Ben Simmons, Dennis Schroder and Bojan Bogdanovic.
But about $20 million of that could disappear into a Cam Thomas extension. And how does that affect the team’s plans for Nic Claxton? Does he still want to stay? Will they move him in a sign-and-trade because the Pelicans are interested?
The last time the rival Nets and Knicks faced off was 41 years ago, when Ronald Reagan was president and “Thriller” was topping the charts, but the next two years may feel just as long in Brooklyn. The Nets went 32-50 last season and YES ratings slumped, but the next few seasons are expected to be much uglier.
They are actually counting on it.
The bet isn’t without risk — just ask Detroit, who saw the team fall from first to fifth and the Hawks have just a 3% chance of winning the lottery.
The Nets themselves were wrong in 2010 when they went 12-70 and predicted they’d win the John Wall lottery. At the time, they had a 25% chance of winning. Even if they struggle with the worst record in the league next season (not likely), under the new lottery system, they only have a 14% chance of winning.
But Flagg won’t be the only selection in that draft. Next year, Rutgers duo Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey will be selected, as will French phenom Nolan Traore, and AJ DiVanza and Cameron Boozer.
The Nets chose their path…or maybe not getting an All-Star player chose the path for them.
And in that lane you’ll be up against tanks. Fasten your seatbelts because it’s going to be awful.
