The Knicks and Mikal Bridges have yet to agree to an extension. There’s a chance the team has an ulterior motive for putting off a new deal, according to SNY’s Ian Begley (video link).
While it’s likely not the only factor, Begley believes the lingering uncertainty surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s status regarding his future with the Bucks may be playing a part in the lack of movement on a deal between the Knicks and Bridges.
“With the Knicks and all the other teams kind of keeping an eye on Milwaukee and what may or may not happen there, I think one of the reasons why he has not been extended yet is because once you extend him, you cannot trade him for six months, Begley said on an episode of The Putback. “I think that’s why you haven’t seen Bridges extended yet. When he does extend, I think that would tell you Giannis is put to bed, is off the table in a sense.”
The Knicks’ potential interest in the two-time MVP has been well documented. While the offseason noise surrounding Antetokounmpo has quieted since the acquisition of Myles Turner and the departure of Damian Lillard, the matter might not be closed yet.
We have more from around the Atlantic division:
- According to Nets Daily (via Twitter), the general manager of the Qingdao Eagles stated that Yang Hansen had a promise from the Nets if he fell to No. 19 in the 2025 draft. Danny Marang of 1080 The Fan tweets that the Trail Blazers were unwilling to trade further down than No. 16 due to Hansen’s stock rising in the lead-up to the draft. The Blazers ultimately traded from 11th to 16th overall to select the former Eagles center.
- The Knicks have posted a 1-3 Summer League record with a mixed bag of performances, even from their rostered players, writes James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. Tyler Kolek shook off a brutal start to display some self-creation flashes, but overall was too loose with the ball for someone billed as a floor general, says Edwards. Pacome Dadiet and Kevin McCullar‘s shooting struggles continued, but both were effective getting to the rim. The standout on the team was the team’s second-round draft pick, Mohamed Diawara, who showed an interesting set of ball skills and physical tools and may have played his way into conversations surrounding a two-way contract.
- The recent Joel Embiid feature from ESPN revealed the lack of trust Embiid has in the Sixers organization when it comes to his health, writes The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey (subscription required), who also took the article as a sign that regardless of what the team wants, he will only return from his injury rehab when he’s ready. Pompey adds that the article suggested the team’s culture and lack of top-down cohesiveness under Sam Hinkie hasn’t significantly improved and that for Daryl Morey and the organization to restore the faith of fans, only winning will help.
Oh! Joel. Everyone else is the problem, aren’t they? SMGDH!!
Don’t you Blaspheme in here
DONT you Blaspheme in here
But I agree with you
Where was that in the article?
Maybe the fact he’s late to everything, shirks responsibilities, and has thousands of missed texts while apologizing for none of it? Then he goes on to say certain things don’t bother him while going on several long rants about those very same things. Dude has issues.
Seems that Embiid didn’t have the best upbringing and we know the Sixers are a mess, so I can sympathize with him somewhat. At the same time, he’s a 30 something year old man who needs to get himself together. The excuses can only go so far.
Embiid is a loser, always has been. I sincerely hope the young guys just play around him. What a poor role model in your locker room and on the court.
Indeed, and he’s a dirty pos to boot. I feel bad for Maxey, he deserves better. Philly fans are getting exactly what they deserve though!
What a pathetic take
Should be fairly obvious who didn’t read the article.
The Philadelphia article is pay-walled and the espn article isn’t linked at all. So I didn’t read either of them.
Yet you put in time and effort to respond.
Pompey isn’t worth reading anyway
Wasn’t Pompey’s article.
Total smokescreen BS. Knicks gave up 5 1st round picks to bring in one of Brunson’s best friends. Brunson delayed his own mega payday so the knicks would have room to max out Bridges. Knicks know they can’t do that under new CBA, it would be a massive overpay, But Bridges has all the leverage because of how much they gave up for him. The lack of extension has nothing to do with Giannis. He is a Buck next year, 99.9% certainty.
justkidding:
I don’t think what the Knicks gave up in the trade for Bridges is going to impact how much they’re going to offer him. I think players in general in the NBA get overpaid with free agency so he probably will be overpaid anyway, but I don’t think he has all the leverage coming off the season he just came off of. If he has another uneven season this year, that’s gonna have teams very wary of offering him a huge contract. And Brunson didn’t take less so Bridges could get a max contract. He took less so the Knicks would have financial flexibility. There was an idea that Bridges might take less too, so the Knicks can maintain that flexibility to build a championship contender.
Embiid is such a crybaby soft flopper. Maybe play better and you won’t get injured or injure other players when you flop on them. Negative value player imo.
Terrible take IMO and airheadead in its childish words. Play better, bwa bwa bwa bwa bwa. MVP scoring champion. Foolish boy go away.
he isn’t what brings you a title he’s not a leader and winner so cry all you want but everyone else can see it take his mvp and call it a title and you win woohoo
Embiid will never win a title. He takes zero accountability. Maxey is going to get at least one, probably more as soon as he gets away from Joel. Imagine how good Joel could be, if he just actually gave a s**t about the rest of his teammates, and made meetings with them, and didn’t miss practices and walk through, and played in the actual paint instead of trying to be Steph Curry 30 possessions a game.
Talent isn’t the question, I never said he had no talent. He has no heart. None what so ever. He’s unwilling to sacrifice what how he wants to play, to do what the team needs of him to make the team better. That’s why he’s is never going to be a champion. He is always blaming others for issues of his own making.
I know Dolan would love Giannis.
He is the one who blew everything up for Mello. One of worst trades ever. But I like Giannis.
To me if Bucks were going to move him. They would have done it at draft to Spurs or Rockets. Both could have offered great deals for Bucks to redo team. I still think Spurs can offer best deal. So all this is noise, fake news. Bridges situation can wait till later. There is no rush. Bridges has to level up this year. He is better than what he showed last year. Has to be more selfish. Mike has to start with him. In order to make Knicks a better team. Mikal we need 22 a gm minimum bro …….
Not sure there’s a particular scoring average he has to attain. He definitely needs to be more actively involved offensively but I thought he really underperformed on the defensive end. He was brought in to contain other teams best scorers and he was average at best. In his defense he was asked to cover much smaller and quicker players like Trey Young and Tyrese Maxey which was difficult for him. Hopefully Brown realizes he’s a wing defender.
“The Knicks ended their Summer League with a 1-3 record and a mixed bag of performances”
Summer League is not over yet. NY are playing Washington tonight, which will be the 5th and final game for both teams.
Good call, thanks, I tweaked the wording on that.
Embid has his share of the blame but management has a terrible history of bad draft picks , trades and free agent signings( Fultz over Tatum, drafting Simmons, Okafor, resigning an injured Embid to a max contract, PG signing and continued resigning of over the hill players like Lowry ,Gordon etc).
Begley knows nothing about the intensions of the NYK FO, similar to many here. The difference is he gets paid to, and thus has a better excuse to proliferate inaccurate information.
Bridges is not seeking, and he would ZERO leverage to get, a max contract extension this offseason. Reason being he can’t be given one. The most he can get in an extension is a starting salary of about 35 mm/yr. (his max would be over 50 mm, but for that he’d have to wait until next offseason). I think that range is pretty fixed between 25 mm/yr (his fixed salary for next year) and the 35 mm/yr. Right now, there’s no particular leverage on Bridges’ side to get to insist on getting the highest end of that range. If he wants to wait until next year (so he can get more), its near certain that the NYK FO is going to trade him before the year.
If there is a delay in the expected timeline of a Bridges extension (Begley of course doesn’t say this), then it’s almost certainly not about some pie in the sky Giannis deal. It’s likely about the FO and Bridges not being on the same page regarding an extension, and the FO believing it needs to explore the market for him. FWIW, this would be a concern for most NYK fans, myself included, so it would be nice if a reporter could provide some insight there; but that’s too much to ask for apparently.