Knicks' Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart drop immediate reactions to wild Mikal Bridges trade

06/25/2024 11:43 PM

The 2023-24 season seemed to be an all-year long recruitment campaign from Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo for Mikal Bridges to join them on the New York Knicks. The Brooklyn Nets seemed to live in denial, proving to be the biggest roadblock to such a team-up, but on Tuesday night, the Nets finally pulled the trigger on sending Bridges away for an outstanding haul.

But for as much as the Knicks gave up, they are definitely a big winner in this deal as well. Giving up five first-round picks along with a pick swap for a player who has never made an All-Star team and has topped out as an elite complementary player may raise some eyebrows, but for the Knicks, the M.O. was clear — bring the Villanova boys together. Now, this reunion has become a strong cause for celebration, with Brunson and Hart tweeting out their reactions to the blockbuster trade.

“Omg,” Brunson wrote on his official Twitter (X) account.

“Let us celebrate in peace! ,” Hart wrote in response to Bam Adebayo’s hilarious tampering allegations.

It’s not quite clear what the NBA considers tampering anymore; throughout the 2023-24 season, it seemed very obvious that Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart were pulling out all the stops, whispering in Mikal Bridges’ ear to join them on an up-and-coming Knicks team. Bridges even went on the Roommates Show podcast hosted by Brunson and Hart just to add further fuel to the fire of an eventual Villanova reunion.

The Knicks team was already scary enough as it is; but with the Bridges trade, not only did they add another playoff-viable weapon as they gear up to dethrone the reigning champion Boston Celtics, they also upped the locker room chemistry quite considerably. Watch out for the Knicks, as they are coming for everyone’s head.

Knicks strengthen an already-impressive core

The Knicks began to push their chips to the center of the table this past season, when they traded away RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to acquire OG Anunoby. They also traded for some depth pieces from the Detroit Pistons, acquiring Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks for Evan Fournier and Quentin Grimes, and now, Bogdanovic became the main salary filler that went back to the Nets in the Mikal Bridges trade.

It might be difficult to believe after a rough past two decades, but the Knicks franchise has become one of the most well-run organizations in the association. They drafted well since 2019, with their hauls in 2019 and 2020 (Barrett and Quickley, respectively) being the key components of the trade that netted them Anunoby. They also signed Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson from free agency in 2019 and 2022, respectively, with those two serving as the cornerstones of the franchise, while they also added Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo to round out the roster.

Even with those masterful acquisitions, the Knicks remained in prime position to swing a trade for a star; they had all of their first-round picks, they had a few first-rounders from other teams as well, and they could cobble together the salary that was necessary to add the final piece to their championship puzzle. They clearly believe Mikal Bridges is the guy that gets them over the hump as seen in the amount of draft capital they gave up to acquire his services.

Bridges may have been overmatched as a number one option with the Nets, but with the Knicks, he’ll be slotting in naturally as the third or fourth option in the starting lineup. His reps as the main guy in Brooklyn have also helped improve his off the dribble game, but with his offensive burden not being as heavy, he should be free to become his defensively disruptive self once again while providing spacing and secondary shot-making.

In a vacuum, his addition is not too needle-moving, but in the context of the current Knicks team, there is a chance he proves to be the piece that pushes them over the top.

The Villanova boys are back together

“Villanova Knicks” may have turned from meme to reality, but it’s New York that will be having the last laugh. The Wildcats program has developed a few players who know how to contribute to winning basketball, and the Knicks now have the four best Villanova products in today’s NBA.

Villanova was wildly successful from the 2015-16 to 2017-18 season thanks in large part to the contributions of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, and Donte DiVincenzo. The Wildcats won the national title in 2016 thanks to a Kris Jenkins game-winner, and then in 2018, they climbed the mountaintop yet again, this time thanks to a monster explosion from DiVincenzo in the national championship game.

Winning pedigree isn’t something one can describe or quantify easily. But the Knicks now have that in spades. Only time will tell, however, if they will have the same level of success in the unforgiving league that is the NBA.

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