The Brooklyn Nets traded away Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks, and Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo is hilariously crying foul. The move reunites Bridges with his former college teammates Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, and Adebayo stated on X that the two were tampering.
“Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, y’all was tampering!”
Hart hilariously responded to Adebayo’s claim by asking him to let them celebrate the reunion.
“Let us celebrate in peace!”
Brunson, meanwhile, wanted Adebayo to just chill.
“Chilllll.”
With how close Bridges is to Brunson, Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo, I too would have a hard time believing they played absolutely no part in him coming over. The NBA had taken away the Knicks’ 2025 second-round pick for tampering when signing Brunson, but I doubt any punishment is going to be handed out here.
The Nets received quite a haul for Bridges in this trade. They got Bojan Bogdanovic, four unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031), an unprotected pick swap in 2028, a top-four protected 2025 1st-round pick via the Milwaukee Bucks, and a 2nd-round pick in 2025.
That is a lot, but the Knicks seemed intent on reuniting Bridges with his former Villanova teammates. He, Brunson, Hart, and DiVincenzo won a national championship together in 2016. They won another in 2018, although Hart wasn’t a part of the second title run, having departed for the NBA in 2017.
The Knicks would be hoping that these four can help lead them to their first title since 1973. I think they need another piece, but this move for Bridges was a step in the right direction, even though they had to give up a lot.
Bridges averaged 19.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game in the 2023-24 season for the Nets. He is an excellent defender (runner-up for DPOY in 2022) and is a great fit offensively on this roster as well. Bridges is an iron man too, having never missed a game due to injury since his days in college.
As for Adebayo, Heat fans wish he could “tamper” as well as Brunson and Hart. The 26-year-old is good friends with Donovan Mitchell, who is yet to sign an extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Heat desperately need some firepower and Mitchell could provide them with just that, but there hasn’t really been any word of him heading to Miami recently.
Mikal Bridges Reportedly Told The Nets He Wanted To Be Traded To The Knicks
Reports indicated that quite a few teams were interested in acquiring Bridges this offseason, but apparently, he had his mind set on joining his former college teammates. According to Ian Begley, Bridges privately demanded a trade to the Knicks.
“The Mikal Bridges deal came together quickly after Bridges informed the Nets that he wanted to be a Knick. Bridges was prepared to sign with NYK and his side was prepared to use that leverage to keep other teams from trading for him, per SNY sources.”
The 27-year-old Bridges has two years left on the four-year, $90 million deal he signed with the Phoenix Suns in 2021. He is eligible to sign a two-year extension on Oct. 1 and in six months, can extend for an additional three years and $113 million.
If Bridges was only going to sign with the Knicks, it would have made little sense for anyone else to make the move. Still, despite that leverage he had, the Nets got a great haul for him.
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