Mikal Bridges Is Quietly Becoming The Knicks’ X-Factor

The New York Knicks were never going to win the trade. Not in November. Not in December. Not in January. Not in April or May. Simply put, Mikal Bridges would forever need to carry the weight of landing in Manhattan by way of five draft picks sent across the bridge to Brooklyn.

The Knicks’ package was loaded with first-round picks, and every single missed corner three or defensive whiff was obviously going to lead directly to questioning New York’s asset management. Mikal must have felt like dying by a thousand cuts.

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That was always the problem with judging Bridges fairly and early. The trade was not made for a random Tuesday night in Charlotte, nor for a three-game stretch in January, nor for whatever helped push the “ain’t worth five first-round picks” agenda a step further.

It was made for this.

“Just fight, man,” an emotional Bridges said after the Game 2 win over the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals. “A lot of integrity, a lot of poise. Just staying together. We’re going to fight to the end. They made a run—they’re a really good team—but we’re going to fight to the end.

“This is great, man, it’s great. I wish we had a better fourth quarter, but they’re a really good team. They pushed it, but we gotta be better.

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“My teammates, man, my teammates and coaches gave me confidence… Bad, bad fourth. I gotta be better. I gotta play hard all throughout the fourth quarter, even when I’m tired—I gotta keep going. I can’t have a fourth quarter like that.”

Asked about his and the collective Knicks’ mindset after going up 2-0, Bridges left no doubt about it.

“Zero-zero,” Bridges answered. “Stay desperate at all times.”

On the black side, De’Aaron Fox has come downhill, Stephon Castle has tried to turn the corner, Dylan Harper and Harrison Barnes and Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie have also taken turns at it. On the blue side, Jalen Brunson has surprisingly needed somebody else to hold the offense together while he’s still in search of his jumper. And truth be told, Karl-Anthony Towns has been the undeniably best Knickerbocker out…

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Publish date : 2026-06-08 08:38:00

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