Mikal Bridges is the NBA’s best participant in transition.
It’s been one of many quieter revelations of a season stuffed with them because the Knicks have embraced Mike Brown’s run-and-gun philosophy in his first yr at Madison Sq. Backyard. Bridges, fairly actually, is main the pack in fast-break effectivity, thriving in a system designed to push the tempo off makes and misses alike.
“The system is made for him. It’s perfect. It’s perfect for him, so he’s just maximizing what he does best to help us win,” Karl-Anthony Cities mentioned. “And transition is one of those things I think all of us in this locker room knew he could be special there. It makes us an even better team and gives us a chance to win every single night.”
Bridges is one in every of 29 NBA gamers — and the one Knick — averaging at the very least 5 transition factors per sport. Amongst that group, he’s been probably the most environment friendly, posting a 78.1 efficient field-goal share in transition, a metric that offers added weight to made three-pointers. If it holds, Bridges would have the very best efficient subject purpose share (eFG%) in transition because the NBA started monitoring transition stats within the 2015-16 season. The mark is at the moment held by 2016 LeBron James (75.7 eFG%) with Kevin Durant (75.3 eFG%) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (73.6% eFG) shut seconds in 2025.
“I thought he was great. He got the transition threes to go and that’s really hard to stop,” Cities mentioned after Sunday’s win over Miami. “So good job by us pushing the pace and getting it to him in his spot and him running in a spot that gave him a chance to shoot that ball. He puts the work in so we all expected him to make it.”
Bridges is capturing 67% from the sector total in transition alternatives, the fourth-best mark within the league behind Antetokounmpo and Orlando wings Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. He shot 6-of-7 from three-point vary within the Knicks’ 132-125 victory over the Warmth.
Three of these makes got here earlier than Miami’s protection might get set — the NBA’s official classification for a working soar shot.
Bridges is 9-of-17 (52.9%) on working three-point makes an attempt this season. Wagner, for comparability, is 3-of-7 (42.9%), whereas Chicago’s Josh Giddey is 7-of-9 (77.8%) however on considerably decrease quantity.
The opposite league leaders in transition efficient subject purpose share don’t stack up: San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama has a 74.4 efficient subject purpose share in opposition to Bridges’ mark of 78.1, however the 7-4 French phenom is barely three-of-six on the season on working three-point jumpers. Giannis is capturing 74% in transition however has not tried a working soar shot this season, and Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards is barely three-of-five on the season on transition threes.
“I think it’s just timing, knowing when a guy’s about to pass and kinda getting your feet right,” Bridges mentioned after the win. “But I’ve been doing this since college, the kind of stuff we’ve been working on [here], and I’ve always been big on running in transition, knowing when to get the one-two [feet] down and rhythm up [into the shot].”
The working three-point boon is a part of a breakout season for Bridges, who’s quietly having an All-Star season with 17 factors per sport on 52.9% capturing from the sector and 43% from three complimenting a robust defensive begin to the season underneath Brown’s teaching lead. Bridges’ scoring is barely down from final yr underneath Tom Thibodeau, however his shot profile has shifted: three-pointers account for 5 share factors extra of his subject purpose makes an attempt this season — roughly one additional three-point try for each 20 photographs he takes.
Brown’s offense has optimized one in every of New York’s greatest investments, and in Yr 2 of Bridges’ Knicks tenure, the returns are beginning to present up throughout the field rating. He’s averaging a career-high 4.3 assists per sport, lots of them coming in that very same grey space between offense and protection the place Bridges has develop into most harmful.
“I think being able to shoot it off the catch or off the run and being able to put it down and try to play-make — and I think my teammates are playing the right way and finding everybody, including myself,” Bridges mentioned. “I think we’ve got a lot of good basketball players that make the right read out in transition.”
