Ever since Mikal Bridges was traded across boroughs during the summer of 2024, the question of which team between the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets won the blockbuster has been frequently debated.
The folks over at Sleeper are now the latest ones to revive such discourse, though Josh Hart seems to have ended the debate once and for all with only a few words and an epically indisputable claim.
In a quote-post on X, the beloved Knicks wing responded to the "Which side won" inquiry by simply writing "The team with the ring".
At the time of the exchange, many saw the move by the Knicks as a tad excessive. After all, the narrative was that New York coughed up the rights to six first-round picks for a player who had never so much as been named an All-Star.
However, as Leon Rose repeatedly stressed at the time of the trade and over the years since, his addition was viewed as "vital to the culture we continue to build" and a step in the right direction toward the club's ultimate task of winning an NBA Championship.
Following their truly historic title run just this past season, it seems quite apparent that the goal the Knicks were trying to accomplish with the Bridges trade has officially been accomplished.
Add this to the fact that the Nets' own owner, Joe Tsai, publicly revealed that he's embarrassed to see the Knicks win it all, and it becomes even easier to see who, in fact, came away from the Bridges trade victorious.
Knicks got far more than just Mikal Bridges from Nets trade
In some ways, one could actually argue that the Knicks not only won the 2024 trade with Brooklyn but actually fleeced them.
With the exchange, the Knicks added the best player in the deal in Mikal Bridges, won a championship, and landed... Jose Alvarado?
Essentially, this trade with the Nets helped New York land the beloved, homegrown backcourt talent just this past trade deadline, as they used a second-rounder acquired in the move, along with Dalen Terry and another second, to the New Orleans Pelicans for Alvarado.
Now, granted, the Knicks could have just as easily thrown two of their own future second-rounders into the mix had they not received one from Brooklyn in the trade for Bridges. After all, they have plenty in their possession over the next several years.
However, the fact that it was an asset acquired in the initial deal that was flipped makes the Mikal trade look even more beneficial from a long-term standpoint, especially now that New York has locked Alvarado down to a new three-year, $14.38 million pact.
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