Following the shocking dismissal of head coach Tom Thibodeau on Tuesday, the New York Knicks could be ready to make some more franchise-altering decisions in the near future.
The Knicks were just two wins shy of their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999, but their 125-208 Game 6 defeat at the hands of the Indiana Pacers in the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals effectively sent the storied franchise back to the drawing board.Â
New York’s superstar tandem of Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns will likely lead the group into battle heading into the 2025-26 season, but the status of their complimentary pieces might be up for interpretation.
In fact, a recent update from The Ringer’s Bill Simmons spoke on a particular star contributor for New York and the growing possibility that he may become a member of the upstart San Antonio Spurs this summer.
“He’s in a situation where I think he’s the ideal third piece for San Antonio, right?” Simmons shared during a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast on Tuesday.
“San Antonio is going to have some flexibility and they have a bunch of picks, and it’s a team like that that can start batting their eyelashes at (Mikal) Bridges in a different way.”
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“And for the Knicks, that matters because if he doesn’t sign an extension this summer and bets on himself, now you’re potentially screwed.”
After trading five first-round picks to acquire the rangy 6-foot-6 two-way forward from the Brooklyn Nets in the summer of 2024, Mikal Bridges authored a productive scoring season for the Knicks, though he took a major step back as a defender.
The 28-year-old contributed 17.6 points and 3.7 assists while boasting an impressive 57.0% effective field goal percentage and appearing in all 82 regular season games for the Knicks in 2024-25, and his defensive identity came around to help his team take a stunning 2-0 series lead against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.Â
Bridges proved his worth as a complimentary scorer and skilled perimeter defender, but New York’s front office may proceed with throwing his name into trade discussions this offseason with the goal of landing another superstar to pair with Brunson and Towns.Â
In this case, New York could look to San Antonio with the idea of taking one of their more established stars off of their hands, like Devin Vassell. They could even target the Spurs’ veteran forward and 2015 NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors, Harrison Barnes, who has developed into one of the best role players in the entire NBA.
Bridges earned All-Defensive First Team honors that year, but fast-forward to 2024-25, his defensive box plus-minus plummeted from what was once a spectacular 1.1 figure all the way down to -0.9.
Still, Bridges could be an interesting player to monitor for plenty of possible suitors in the coming months.
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