Mikal Bridges agreed to a four-year, $150 million extension with the New York Knicks on Thursday, an individual with data of the small print stated.
The individual confirmed the deal to The Related Press on situation of anonymity as a result of it had not been introduced. It was first reported by ESPN.
The Knicks gave up 5 first-round picks to purchase Bridges final June and he rewarded them by taking lower than he might have earned to lock in to a future with former Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart.
Bridges might have earned $156 million on this extension, or much more by ready till his contract expired subsequent summer time. As a substitute, he took the deal that might permit the Knicks future flexibility to maintain constructing a workforce that reached the Japanese Convention finals final season for the primary time since 2000.
Bridges made a few big defensive performs when the Knicks knocked off 2024 NBA champion Boston within the second spherical.
The Knicks sought these defensive skills and his availability to play each sport that’s unmatched amongst present NBA gamers after they traded the massive bundle of picks to accumulate Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets final summer time.
Bridges performed in each sport — as he has in each season within the NBA — and averaged 17.6 factors. The NBA’s reigning iron man additionally performed in each sport in faculty earlier than showing in all 556 since coming into the NBA as a first-round decide in 2018.
He helped Phoenix attain the NBA Finals in 2021 and was runner-up for Defensive Participant of the 12 months the next season, earlier than being dealt to Brooklyn on the 2023 commerce deadline as a part of the bundle for Kevin Durant.
Bridges averaged 26.1 factors within the closing 27 video games of that season and 19.6 in 2023-24, earlier than turning into extra of a supporting offensive piece with the Knicks behind Brunson and Karl-Anthony Cities.