Signing Mikal Bridges to an extension looks so much better for the New York Knicks now than it did back in August. Because as it turns out, keeping him trade-eligible this season could theoretically help them land Giannis Antetokounmpo.
This stance is a definitive departure from prevailing consensus. It has become commonplace in response to Shams Charania of ESPN reporting Giannis has a soft spot for the Knicks to criticize their trade for Bridges, and the subsequent extension he just signed. In many ways, the reaction is boiling down to “New York chose Bridges over Giannis!”
Timing is everything. The Knicks could not have known Giannis would show concrete interest in playing for them a little more than a year after they surrendered the first-round-pick farm. Likewise, per Charania’s report, New York’s offseason negotiating window with the Milwaukee Bucks didn’t properly align with the Bridges extension. It seems the deal between him and the Knicks came before Giannis talks ever truly started, assuming they ever did, rather than in the middle of them.
Facing a world of uncertainty, not to mention a lack of enticing trade assets, New York actually preserved optionality by extending Bridges when they did.
Giannis could request a trade midseason
As Charania adds in his dispatch, Giannis will use the start of this season to see where the Bucks stand relative to the rest of the league, and his desire to contend for another title. This leaves open the possibility that he requests a midseason change, and creates a feeding frenzy among potential suitors.
The Knicks have to some extent preserved their place in those talks with the Bridges extension. His raise in the deal is large enough that he can’t be traded for six months. Based on his August 1 signing date, this puts him back on the table as of February 1–mere days before the February 5 trade deadline.
That doesn’t leave New York a huge window in the event Giannis becomes available. But it beats not having a pathway to include Bridges at all.
The Bridges extension helps offseason Giannis trades, too
Little changes from this vantage point even if the Giannis saga spills into the offseason. At that time, Bridges’ will become a more sizable matching salary, going from $24.9 million to $33.5 million. That opens up different trade-package permutations.
We can quibble over whether he’s overpaid. If he is, it’s not by much. Having him under contract beyond this season is more important.
Signing and trading him in a Giannis deal would be much more complicated, in large part because he could have been even more expensive, but also because as an unrestricted free agent, the Knicks and Bucks would need his cooperation to hash out a package.
None of this may ultimately matter. It doesn’t change the fact that the Knicks can’t guarantee any first-round picks in a trade until the offseason. And when they can, they will only have two at their disposal. Other teams will have better offers.
Still, we have to remember the Knicks aren’t necessarily working on an even playing field. Giannis already wants them—and so far, only them. That is an asset unto itself. All New York can do is to preserve what few others it has left.
The Bridges extension has done just that.