The New York Knicks seem to at least be keeping a foot in the door when it comes to Mikal Bridges.
The Brooklyn Nets swingman is commonly viewed as a perfect trade candidate for the Knicks this summer: a 3-and-D star who also happens to have been college teammates with the "Nova Knicks" of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo.
According to Yahoo's Jake Fischer, the Knicks are among the teams that "continue to check with Brooklyn about the availability" of Bridges. Fischer reports that the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets have also contacted the Nets about Bridges.
According to multiple reports, the Nets have declined to make Bridges available, viewing him as a foundational piece to pair with another star.
If Bridges was available, however, there have been doubts about the Knicks' ability to land Bridges from the Nets. The Knicks and Nets haven't made a trade with each other since 1983 and have largely had a contentious relationship since the Nets moved to Brooklyn in 2012.
Not only have the Nets shot down trade offers for Bridges over the past year, the common belief in the NBA world is that they would not trade him to their crosstown rivals, where he'd then play alongside close friends, against Brooklyn four times a season.
However, the door may not be totally shut. The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor reported that some in the NBA world think the Nets would trade Bridges to the Knicks if the Knicks overpaid. It's unclear what would constitute an overpay, but it would surely involve many of the Knicks' surplus of first-round picks.
That could be a way in for the Knicks. According to Fischer, the Nets are interested in acquiring a late first-round pick in this year's draft. The Nets don't have a pick in this draft and are out of many of their first-round picks as a result of the James Harden trade in 2021. (The Nets do own many of the Phoenix Suns future first-round picks from the Kevin Durant trade in 2023).
The Knicks own the 24th and 25th picks in this year's draft and are reported to be exploring trade scenarios with those picks.
Any deal for Bridges would involve much more than just picks in this year's draft, but that could be a starting point if the Nets decide to move on from the versatile swingman.
