If you ask New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown, it’s no surprise that Mikal Bridges is lighting it up to start the season. The secret to his success? Spending time with New York’s kiddos over the summer.
The Knicks’ head honcho was asked about Bridges’ scorching-hot play to open the year. He attributed the 29-year-old’s mastery of the new offensive system to the extra work he put in during the offseason
Mike Brown notes that Mikal Bridges is a little ahead of the curve with regard to adapting to new system because he was in the gym all summer with the team’s younger players
— Kris Pursiainen (@krispursiainen) November 3, 2025
This is quite the source of Bridges’ superpowers. Who’d have thought getting in empty-gym reps with the likes of—*checks notes*—Pacome Dadiet, Tyler Kolek, and Ariel Hukporti would prime him to deliver what might go down as the best season of his career?
That’s a joke. Sort of. The Knicks aren’t stacked with younger players, so who Bridges worked out with specifically is an open question.
Regardless, whatever he did, and whoever he did it with, it’s clearly working.
Mikal Bridges is proving how much the Knicks are trying to change
Bridges is averaging 17.5 points and 5.5 assists per game while downing 62.2 percent of his twos and 46.9 percent of his threes. The scoring efficiency, in all likelihood, will not hold. But the playmaking is a major development that can help New York navigate its dearth of a reliable floor general behind Jalen Brunson.
Brown has given Bridges—and everyone else, really—more agency to bring the ball up the floor. Beyond that, the Knicks’ prized wing is driving more often, and facilitating more out of those downhill attacks.
Among 54 players averaging at least nine drives per game, Bridges ranks eighth in assist percentage. And he’d probably place even higher if New York didn’t miss so many wide-open threes to start the year. Nobody from that 54-player pool is passing out of their drives more often than Bridges.
The manner in which Bridges scores is shifting, too. A larger share of his bucks are coming in transition. And while his rim frequency hasn’t exploded, he’s getting two feet in the paint more often inside the half-court.
Last year, around 18.2 percent of his looks came via two-pointers outside the paint. That number is down to 12.9 percent this season.
Bridges may only continue to get better
There is a chance we have yet to even see the best version of Bridges. He can still bail-out of his drives before getting into the teeth of the defense, and although he’s on fire inside the restricted area, he’s shooting just 4-of-15 on twos in the paint.
Piling together more reps alongside Deuce McBride will go a long way, too. The Knicks have done a good job mixing up Bridges’ defensive coverages so far. The more time he logs next to McBride, the less he’ll find himself matched up at the point-of-attack. New York’s Deuce-plus-starters lineup is currently posting the equivalent of a top-five defensive rating.
This version of Bridges is pretty terrifying all things considered. From last year’s underwhelming performance and butting heads with Tom Thibodeau to the reaction his extension received, his time in The Big Apple has not unfurled in seamless fashion. His integration into Mike Brown’s system, though, is pretty close to perfect—a massive development knowing how much others have struggled to find their place.
Kudos to Bridges, then, for getting a jump-start on his homework over the summer. And, apparently, props to the Knicks’ kiddies as well.