Possible Hawks Trade Target Mikal Bridges Traded To Knicks in Mega Blockbuster Deal

The first blockbuster trade of the off-season involving major draft capital is finally here.

The New York Knicks have finally re-united the Villanova trio as they traded for Brooklyn Nets forward Mikal Bridges, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

To acquire Bridges, New York gave up Bojan Bogdanovic, four unprotected first-rounders, two pick swaps and a second-rounder. That is an absolute haul and I think it’s probably one of the best packages the Nets could have gotten for Bridges.

Make no mistake, Bridges is an excellent player. He was a critical part of the Suns’ Finals run in 2021 and is a great defender who creates his own shot. Last season, he averaged 19.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists on 52.1% from the field and 37.2% from three. He is a true volume shooter, hitting that three-point percentage on seven attempts a game.

His fit on New York is fairly ideal. He slots in perfectly as a third scoring option behind Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson – it’s a more upgraded version of what they got out of Bogdanovic. However, I think this is a deal that the Hawks likely feel alright about not making.

Atlanta did not have the draft capital to be responsible for doing this. Even if they gave away the No. 1 overall pick, they would have effectively crippled their future for Bridges. He is simply not the kind of player that Atlanta could do that for. The cost of putting him next to Jalen Johnson would simply be too high.

Perhaps they could have gotten Bridges if the Nets valued Dejounte Murray or Trae Young, but there are very few other players that Atlanta could have easily traded for Bridges. Hunter likely wouldn’t be enough of a trade sweetener for New York and Johnson has too high of a ceiling at the moment. It certainly makes New York a more dangerous playoff opponent, but this was not a missed opportunity for the Hawks. However, it does entirely rule out the Nets as a contender for Young or Murray’s services.

I am very interested to see if this makes any of the other players on Brooklyn’s roster more avaliable. Someone like Dorian Finney-Smith is a good rotation wing that could bolster Atlanta’s rotation. It would not surprise me if Brooklyn trades more veterans as it enters a true rebuild.