Greetings, my peeps. Welcome to the All Things Basketball
podcast with your boy GD. In this special episode, guys, I was at the Commissioner Cup.
I was a little disappointed there, but the news came across on my phone.
Mikal bridges to the New York Knicks in a trade. So I'll talk about that.
It'll be a quick episode, but I have to get into it. So just sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
Okay, guys, it's your boy GD back with the All Things Basketball. All Things Basketball with GD
podcast. I'm so excited. Can't even get it out. But guys, as I said in the opener, I just got home
from the Commissioner's Cup watching the Liberty play. Actually, they did play in Barclay. They
played in UBS Arena. So the Liberty fans had to migrate from Brooklyn to Elmont, which is the
earlier part of Long Island. And there we watched the game and unfortunately, the Liberty lost.
So what can you do? I'll report on that later. But as I was heading towards the train, I look
at my phone, I see this wold bomb and saw a picture of Mikal Bridges. I was like, okay, so I guess
the net saw moving him. Then I saw it was to the Knicks. I was like, are you in? So let's talk about
the terms of the deal, guys. So the nets and what I didn't think would ever happen. I'm a person who
says that the owner, Joe Tsai, he would rather walk across the glass across the Brooklyn bridge
before he trades a Nets player to the Knicks. But I guess for this haul, he had to do it.
So Mikal Bridges going to the New York Knit along with a second round,
2026 pick from the Nets. But this is what the Knicks give up. Bojan Bogdanovic,
who they got from Detroit in the midseason trade, a guy who was averaging 20 over there for Detroit.
But when he got to New York, he played a different role where he's coming off the bench.
So he averaged 10 points, so half his average he got. So we're sending him and he's on an
expiring contract actually, guys, 19 no, yeah. And the Knicks also send full unprotected first
round pick for the following years 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031. So that's full unprotected there.
Wait, there's more. A one first round protected pick
for 2025. And that's actually a pick that belongs to the Milwaukee Bucks.
So that's another pick that you're dealing with. Then there's a 2028 unprotected
swap that they'll do with the Brooklyn next. So you have to see what the records are and so forth.
And that's in 2028. And then a 2025 second round pick. So all in all, it's looking like seven
picks that you gave for unprotected first, a protected first, and then a picked swap, which,
you know, that could swap the evil way. So I guess it's probably six in reality,
along with the second round. So all of that plus by Bogdanovic, who are
Mikal bridges, who all by the way, he's making over 23 million next year. And just a shade under
25 million following year. And Mikal bridges, this is what he did with the next.
When he got traded, remember, he came in and trade for KD. In those 27 games, he played
a shooting guard position, averaging over 26 points per game, four and a half rebounds, and
a bit under three assists. He shot it well, 47 and a half percent from the field,
37.6 from three and nearly close to 90% from the free go lot. So that was outstanding.
The following season, which was last season, 2023 and 24, they shifted him to small forward.
And they did that to give room for guys like him, Thomas. So he played all 82 games.
I mean, he's not going to miss a lot of games, guys. He's been very healthy throughout his career.
So with him as the focal point, he had with 19.6 points per game. He still had the four
and a half rebounds. He had more assists, 3.6 field goes shooting was bad because he was
the focal point. So teams were looking to stop him 43.6% from the field, 37.2 from three. And then he
dropped 8% from the free so why at 81.4. So there you have it as far as his numbers.
What does this mean for the New York Knicks? This means now.
I don't know if you guys are aware, but OG Anunoby, he opted out. So now he's a
unrestricted free agent. All signs of pointing to him wanting from what I hear 35 million a year.
There's a lot of bread. A lot of bread guys. But and when he was in there, he was golden guys.
But you know, he does have an injury riddled history. Make no mistake about it. So I guess the Knicks
in their mind, they say, you know what, instead of having this guy holding us over a barrel,
maybe we can make this here move. So and comes from the kale bridges. And this is similar to
I think for the Knicks. This type of deal was available for a Donovan Mitchell. They would
have made it. But remember Danny Ainge got greedy. So he wanted more than four
first round unprotected pay plus he wanted players. So I think this is the type of deal
that the Knicks would have loved to do to get a Donovan Mitchell, but that didn't come to
fruition. Enter Mikal bridges, someone who they need a two way player, somebody who could get
his offense. Yeah, I like it. I like the move. I think you know, familiarity matters, culture
matters. And he brings all that to the table guys. He has a rapport with Jalen Brunson with
Josh Hart with Donte DiVincenzo. So you have that chemistry there, obviously from there,
Villanova days. So that's a plus. And this is a guy who Tom Thibodeau will fall in love with
the way he defends the way he gets up in there. So I think it's a no brainer in that regard.
I think Josh Hart will be your kind of ginsu knife, you know,
Jack of all trades. So he could come in he can he could spell the two he could spell the three he
could spell the four position as well. So I think that will still be Josh part of that'll be his
calling card. So I'm looking at if form holds in the Knicks don't do anything else. I'm looking at
a lineup of Brunson, DiVincenzo, I think he earned it. Also, Mikal Bridges, Julius Randle.
And I think the Knicks are leaning towards Hartenstein. Isaiah Hartenstein over a Mitchell
Robinson, I think that's their leaning later. But I think that's the way it's shaking out guys.
And that's a solid squad. That is a solid squad. You're bringing a heart off the bench. You still
have Deuce McBride. I know people are clamoring for a backup point guard to spell Brunson.
Brunson. I think Deuce can be that backup. But what do I know? But yeah, so you know, this move.
I think Leon Rose did the prudent thing here.
I don't think he was going fishing for a Devin Booker. I don't think he was going fishing for a
Paul George. I don't think that was in the cards for the Knicks. So I think that the next best thing
you bring in a guy who can fit right into the system, a guy who you could plug in,
you could put them in multiple spots. You know, if something were to happen to
DiVincenzo he could slide to the two guard and then possibly you move up a Josh Hart. So this
gives the Knicks a lot of flexibility, I think. And you know, it is funny because Jalen Brunson
had a sit down interview with Taylor Rooks. If you guys get a chance, watch that interview.
It's well worth it. Anyhow, in that interview, actually, Mikhail Bridges said something slick to
Brunstn and he made us to listen to that joke about, well, at least I'm not a Brooklyn Net,
which in hindsight now is pretty funny now that Mikal has been traded to the Knicks.
So definitely cool to all around. Great job. Leon Rose. I know people are going to scream,
oh, but you're giving up so many draft picks. Listen, man.
Draft picks, I understand they're like this commodity these days, but the Knicks still
have other people's draft picks. So even if they gave up their four, they're still straight
because they got from other teams. So when you get a chance to get a guy like this that you
could add to your team, a guy who can fit in seamlessly, I think you do it. No questions asked.
So I applaud the Knicks for doing this. Who was out there that she was going to bring in?
Paul George? I don't think Paul George was coming here. Jimmy Butler's I heard somebody talk about
Jimmy Butler. Pat Riley would rather buy a suit off the rack before he makes a deal with
New York Knicks. That's what I'm telling you. So Jimmy Butler, he ain't coming here guys.
Joel Embiid. No, I don't see that even. So this is the deal you make. And
you're good to go. So this puts you right in the conversation underneath a Boston Celtics,
Milwaukee, I'm still not convinced with Milwaukee. I know people say, Oh, maybe you hold out for
Giannis. You don't know what's going to happen over there with Giannis and with Damian Lillard. So
the Knicks did the right thing in doing this move. That's how I feel. But this was of supreme
importance for me to jump on and give a little take on that. So yeah, so I am a happy Knicks fan
today. I think we've definitely gotten better. That's for sure. And look,
you know, when all is said and done, you want a chance at the championship. Julius Randle,
he went on mellows, podcasts, the guy sounds hungry, man. And he sounds like,
you know, he was so distraught over the fact that the Knicks were making their run in clear
on without him. He wanted to be part of it. So I think he's going to come back with a hunger.
I think he's going to come back and fit in with what's there. And I just see good things happen
in New York. So when you wake up tomorrow morning, Nick fans, you should be happy with this deal.
Here. You gave up draft capital fine. And we have a draft that's going on tomorrow. Well,
Wednesday. So a draft that there's no real buzz about. If you have these kind of drafts coming
down the pike, giving up draft capital like this, don't hurt you all that much. So
especially if the long term goal is to get the chip, and I think bringing in a Mikal Bridges
gives you one step closer to get the chip. That's the way I feel. All right, guys. So that's it for
me. Allthingsbasketballwithgd.com is the website. You can find me there. All my buttons are there
to support the show. I went to a Commissioner's Cup tonight. I got some content there. So
yeah, so
support the show guys. I got a Spotify button on my website, PayPal button on my website,
also Buy Me a Coffee button on the website in my cash app, gdthatsportsdude,
$gdthatsportsdude. That's how you support the show guys. I'm on YouTube as well.
You can find me there. Podcast platforms. I'm on all of those Apple leave a review.
YouTube like the video, please like the video on YouTube and
give a review on Apple. I'm on social media all over the place. IG is where I really
do all my interactions and so forth and Facebook. I'm there, TikTok. I set up my videos and all that.
And then Twitter and X. All right, so that's it for me. I thank you for listening as always.
We'll talk soon. Right now, WNBA is in full effect. So we'll be talking about that. They got an all-star
game coming up, which I'll be going to. I brought you a lot of stuff. I'm going to be talking about
that. They got an All Star Game coming up, which I'll be going to. I'll break down the Commissioner's Cup.
I'll break down the draft, you know, as best as I can with the draft and of course, free agency and
summer league and all that kind of stuff coming up. All right guys. So thank you for listening.
As always, we'll talk soon. Take care.