The Ringer’s Bill Simmons believes the New York Knicks are not targeting the next big name who could become available this summer. But rather complete the Villanova quartet who won the 2016 NCAA championship.
“I really think they’re going to get Mikal Bridges as the big target. I think that’s who they want,” Simmons said on “The Bill Simmons” podcast on May 20.
Bridges would reunite with Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo if the Knicks can pull off such a trade.
“I think they’re going to try and overpay because I think they want those four Villanova guys together, and I don’t think they want like a major star. They want somebody like that,” Simmons continued.
The Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets, however, have not made a trade since 1983. That is why Simmons thinks if the Knicks are to acquire Bridges, they must overpay.
“I think if it’s 120 cents on the dollar,” Simmons said. “I just don’t know why you want Mikal Bridges if you’re [the Nets] going nowhere. That’s a guy who should be on a good team and on a [Knicks] team like that unless you feel like you can get [Donovan] Mitchell or Devin Booker.
Simmons believes the Nets landing a star like Booker is a long shot.
“If I were them, I would trade Bridges for more than he’s worth and just start over with my Phoenix picks and whatever I got with the Knicks,” Simmons said.
Pouncing on Nets’ Mediocrity
Brooklyn failed to qualify for the playoffs or even the play-in tournament with no clear path to getting better unless they could swing a massive star trade using the Suns‘ picks. They do not have control of their own picks, including this year’s third overall selection which went to Houston as part of the James Harden deal.
The Knicks could help their rebuild with their draft capital which includes eight first-round and seven second-round picks.
Matching Bridges’ $23 million salary would be easy for the Knicks using Bojan Bogdanovic‘s $19 million team option.
Bridges is still under contract for two more seasons in a team-friendly four-year, $90 million deal he signed with the Suns in 2021 before getting traded to the Nets for Kevin Durant.
But it would take a haul of draft picks for the Nets to let Bridges go unless they lose some leverage if the 3-and-D wing demands to be traded to the Knicks.
The Nets had already rejected the Rockets‘ offer to return some of their picks owed in the Harden trade and Jalen Green at the trade deadline, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Knicks Still Targeting Next Big Name
After their consecutive second-round exits, the Knicks are sticking to their plan to parlay their draft capital into a bona fide star that could get them over the hump and contend for NBA title.
Fred Katz of The Athletic reported on Monday, May 20, that the Knicks are “still targeting the upcoming summer as the time to trade for the next big name.”
Katz cited an initial list of their potential top trade targets, which could expand depending on some teams with big decisions this summer.
“It’s not clear who that star will be. Even the Knicks do not know. They are counting on one universal truth: In the NBA, someone unexpected always becomes available.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Paul George on an opt-in-and-trade, the Miami Heat breaking it down, Donovan Mitchell again, the Phoenix Suns retooling — whatever happens, the Knicks plan to inject themselves into the conversation,” Katz wrote.
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