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NEW YORK — On June 25, the Brooklyn Nets made a decision that shocked the NBA world when they traded Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks and subsequently triggered a rebuild. Up to that point, Brooklyn had reportedly been treating Bridges as virtually untouchable, but it looks like the Knicks’ offer was too enticing.
“I think it’s numerous factors, frankly; you’re weighing up the situation we find ourselves as a team, as an organization, the timing of such,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said on Monday during his press conference following Brooklyn’s summer league practice. Marks, in collaboration with governor Joe Tsai, seemingly decided that holding out hope for a star to come to Brooklyn to play with Bridges was not worth passing up on one of the biggest hauls in NBA history.
“It’s a difficult decision because Mikal was a focal point of this organization for the last year since we did the trade,” Marks said about how important Bridges became to the organization after he was acquired as part of the Kevin Durant trade during the 2022-23 season. “So, not an easy decision, but at the same time, when you have an offer like we did from New York, I think that sets us up on a very, very clear direction and pathway to continue to build this team with sustainable success, and that’s the ultimate goal here.”
The Bridges trade became official on July 6 and the final return was essentially five first-round picks, a first-round pick swap, and three players including forward Bojan Bogdanovic. It took awhile for the deal to become official because the Knicks were trying to find a way to maintain some financial flexibility without trading Miles “Deuce” McBridge and that’s how the Nets ended up with Shake Milton and Mamadi Diakite.
After the trade was initially reported, there were rumors that Bridges wanted to be on the Knicks possibly as an attempt to reunite with three of his former college teammates that play for New York. Either way, it seems that Marks was willing to hold onto Bridges until an offer came along that made him think things over.