Forward of his first assembly of the season towards his previous crew, Knicks star Mikal Bridges mentioned he’s grateful for his time with the Brooklyn Nets — a pivotal chapter within the journey that in the end introduced him to Madison Sq. Backyard.
“I’m just appreciative of wherever I came from. [Brooklyn was] just one stepping stone where I was at before I was here. So just appreciative,” Bridges mentioned after observe in Tarrytown on Saturday. “I think every time I play Brooklyn, I just think about how my life changed when I got there — when I got traded from Phoenix to there, just how my life changed from that situation. I had a great time [with the Nets].”
Bridges arrived in Brooklyn as a part of the blockbuster Kevin Durant commerce to the Phoenix Suns — a deal that ended the Nets’ short-lived championship experiment. He thrived in his new function, averaging a career-high 26.1 factors per sport over his first 27 video games with Brooklyn, then adopted up with 19.6 factors per sport in his first full season there in 2023-24
However whereas the Nets stumbled to a 32-50 report, the Knicks surged to 50-32, with Bridges’ former Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo main the way in which — and clowning him from throughout the East River.
Bridges went 44-65 throughout his one-and-a-half seasons in Brooklyn. Since arriving in New York, he’s gone 56-34, together with final season’s 4-0 sweep of his former crew within the Knicks’ first 12 months below the brand new core.
“Obviously, we were losing games the last year I was there,” Bridges mentioned. “But I never take it for granted — the time I had there, the connections I had and built with the young guys who are there now that I was teammates with.”
The Nets obtained Bridges, Cam Johnson, and a haul of 4 first-round picks and a choose swap in trade for Durant and T.J. Warren. They later flipped Bridges to the Knicks for an unprecedented bundle: 5 first-round picks, one swap, and a second-round choose. Brooklyn entered Sunday’s matchup towards the Knicks with a 1-8 report having traded Johnson to the Denver Nuggets for Michael Porter Jr.
After shifting on from Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, then flipping each Bridges and Johnson, the Nets are in a full rebuild.
“[Nets GM] Sean Marks and all them, they’re great dudes. [Nets governor] Joe Tsai, Clara [Wu Tsai], all of them,” Bridges mentioned. “I built a lot of relationships with the coaching staff. Even Jordi [Fernandez] had been there a couple of months — I built a nice relationship with him and his coaching staff before I got traded from there to here.”
Bridges enters Sunday’s sport having scored 20 or extra factors in two of his three full matchups towards Brooklyn final season. He additionally checked in for just a few seconds in final 12 months’s finale to take care of his ironman streak, extending his run of consecutive video games performed.
FANS CROSSING ‘A LINE’
Knicks captain Jalen Brunson mentioned he’s obtained hate mail all through his profession — and that a few of it has crossed deeply private traces.
“It’s definitely crossed a line a couple of times,” Brunson mentioned after observe on Friday. “Actually, I would say more than a couple of times. Said some pretty messed up s—.”
The dialogue was sparked by current feedback from Giants kicker Graham Gano, who informed reporters he’s repeatedly focused on-line after missed area objectives — together with messages urging him to hurt himself or die from sickness.
“Shoot, ever since sports betting started happening, I get people telling me to kill myself every week because I’ll hit a kick that loses them money [or] I’ll miss a kick and it loses them money,” Gano mentioned on Nov. 6. “The other day, somebody told me to get cancer and die.”
Brunson mentioned he leans on his internal circle — household, shut associates, and teammates — to remain grounded when the messages pile up.
“They keep me level-headed — when it’s positive, when it’s negative,” he mentioned. “I’ve a really shut circle that I flip to after I begin to get doubt, or I begin to get nervous or see stuff like that.
“I try not to let it get to me, but there are definitely times that I reach breaking points. I try not to let the world see it.”
Nonetheless, Brunson mentioned the anonymity of on-line criticism doesn’t excuse the cruelty.
“It definitely crosses a line. I really don’t wish that on anybody,” he mentioned. “I don’t understand why people think it’s alright to press send when s—’s hateful. When I say some s— — the worst things you’re thinking of, it’s worse than that.”
