NBA insider reports Mikal Bridges informed Nets he wanted to join the New York Knicks

Mikal Bridges dropped a bombshell in the NBA community after he was traded to the New York Knicks from the Brooklyn Nets. NBA insider Ian Begley first reported the news and indicated that Bridges had been working through his plans with the Nets front office.

Bridges, a 27-year-old defensive stalwart and three-point sharpshooter from Villanova has quickly become one of the more sought-after players in that type of range for many teams around the NBA.

Bridges enjoyed a breakout year playing alongside Kevin Durant with the contending Phoenix Suns and smoothly moved into a bigger role on the Brooklyn Nets team following his trade last season.

The Knicks have been connected to Bridges, a New York native and Villanova product. He is strongly connected to multiple current Knicks players, most notably his former Wildcats teammates and friends Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson. And the Knicks, lacking any backcourt firepower, need a two-way wing to pair with all those recent lottery picks.

The Knicks have a promising young core and plenty of draft picks at their disposal, so they are among the candidates to trade for a star player this offseason.

Mikal Bridges' trade deal between Knicks and Nets revealed

The New York Knicks have acquired coveted wing defender Mikal Bridges in a blockbuster deal with the Brooklyn Nets, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. He bolsters the Knicks' defensive pressure and gives their youthful core a proven scorer.

Full Details of the trade:

* New York Knicks receive: Mikal Bridges, 2026 second-round pick

* Brooklyn Nets receive: Bojan Bogdanovic, unprotected first-round picks in 2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031, a protected 2025 Milwaukee first-round pick, a 2028 unprotected pick swap, and a 2025 second-round pick.

Mikal Bridges - who was included in the deal with the Phoenix Suns for James Harden last season, has had a minor decline this year in his scoring efficiency, averaging 19.6 points on 43.6% shooting overall and 37.2% from the 3-point line as compared to last year's (2023 season ) 20.1 points with 46.8% shooting from the field and 38.2% from the 3-point range.

The Knicks had previously traded away younger players such as RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Malachi Flynn and Quentin Grimes to land OG Anunoby, a free agent now, and Bogdanovic, who will be rerouted to Brooklyn as part of the Mikal Bridges trade.