Something has gotten lost amid the New York Knicks' transformation from lottery mainstay to NBA championship contender. It is true that when the team was struggling to win more games than it was losing, it was of the utmost importance to dominate the margins and "win" every transaction possible. But now, the Knicks are in a different weight class. On a nightly basis, the prices paid for marquee starters in trades doesn't matter – compared to whether or not they're good enough to win it all.
Knicks' NBA title pursuit can't be derailed by pressure of trade packages
Among the league's best teams, the Knicks can't afford to care about what they gave up to acquire certain members of their team. Caring about the final score is stresful enough, and how each team affected that result. While fans are quick to criticize players like Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns, they've mostly been performing up to expectations recently.
The duo of maligned Knicks starters definitely needs to do their jobs consistently. The playoffs are approaching quickly, and many have pointed out that it's getting late in the season for players to still be making comments about a need for patience or how the team is still discovering its identity.
New York's front office had a team on the rise with holes to fill and plenty of draft capital. When they acquired Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby for a total of one first-round pick, it paved the way for them to make the stunning five first-round pick trade for Bridges. The two-way wing adds to the team's efforts on both ends, most of the time, without ever demanding the basketball or getting in the way of stars like Towns or Jalen Brunson.
The team's braintrust was right not to sit on their hands until one of the league's top players became available. Even without Bridges involved, it's not likely that any of the first few first-round picks they traded to Brooklyn will convey inside of the draft's top 20 selections. While Bridges has given fans several reasons to question him as the front office's choice when it came to cashing out on those draft picks, he's not the reason that the team hasn't somehow acquired Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Knicks would have traded first-round picks for somebody else. All things considered, the Bridges deal has been the front office's biggest question mark in recent years. But the delivery of an NBA title win would erase any and all doubts. That would be why they did it. It's on Bridges, and his teammates, to do what it takes to make that into their reality.