The New York Knicks are coming up on an important season, and it will mark their first with new coach Mike Brown in the fold. Brown has his work cut out for him, but on the other hand, he’s being handed an already solid team that almost made it to the championship last season. So, it could certainly be worse for Brown.
The Knicks have some tough decisions to make heading into the 2025-26. They don’t want to fix what’s not broken, but they want to improve enough to get to a championship. With that in mind, they can’t keep every player on the roster. Last season, the Knicks lost to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. A big part of what Brown is doing is making sure the Knicks have the right teammates to get to that final game and not fall short again.
Now, one NBA expert is predicting that the Knicks will part with one of their biggest starts before the new season kicks in.
Mike Brown May Cut a Key Player
Brad Botkin of CBS Sports makes some bold predictions in a feature published on June 30. His first prediction is that the LeBron James trade rumors will heat up during the offseason, which certainly is already coming true. But, his second prediction is about the Knicks.
Here, Botkin makes the case for the Knicks to trade Mikal Bridges. Why? He’s simply going to be too expensive for the team.
“I don’t know where he’s going, but I don’t think the Knicks want to pay him the $156 million extension that he’s eligible to sign,” Botkin states. “Rather than letting Bridges get to free agency next summer when they could lose him for nothing, I think the Knicks get ahead of this and move Bridges this summer.”
While it’s kind of jarring to think of the Knicks without Bridges, a team has to do what a team has to do. Botkin says that the team has “been in this position multiple times over recent years — with a guy they didn’t want to extend at a big number and also didn’t want to get to free agency — and every time they have traded the player in question. They did it with Julius Randle. They did it with Immanuel Quickley. They did it with Obi Toppin.”
Mikal Bridges and the Knicks
So, he believes Bridges will be the next guy to part ways with the Knicks due to a similar situation. Of course, the team has a new coach now, so that could be a factor, but he still thinks Bridges is gone.
“He was good for the Knicks last year, and it would be a bitter pill to swallow considering the massive package they gave up to get him just last summer, but it’s never a good idea to compound a mistake by making another one,” he notes in the feature. “The sunk-cost theory is real. New York isn’t getting the five first-round picks it traded for Bridges back, but, with the benefit of hindsight, if the Knicks now feel like they overpaid for Bridges, it should only reinforce their resolve not to do it again.”
It’s also worth noting that according to ClutchPoints’ Kris Pursiainen, New York is interested in Jaren Jackson Jr. and could be willing to part with Bridges for him.
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