Mikal Bridges Extension Provides Knicks with Crucial Flexibility

The New York Knicks had a few questions to answer in the waning weeks of the NBA offseason.

Many have wondered how they plan on spending their final remaining veteran's minimum contract, as they stand as one of the best teams entering the 2025-26 season who aren't even done adding talent to next year's rotation. Names of intriguing candidates have been bounced around, but the Knicks clearly found taking care of their current pieces to be the more pressing matter.

Their handing a four-year, $150 million contract to Mikal Bridges works as the easiest way to make one of their newest stars more comfortable going forward, with the forward spending his first year in New York without a long-term contract waiting for him after his current deal expires.

Signing up for several more years of Bridges also not only indicates their surrender in the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, with their learning that the 2x MVP truly doesn't have any indication of leaving the Milwaukee Bucks, but also acts as another sign that they're in on this Knicks core. Bridges now joins Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby as long-term signees, with Karl-Anthony Towns still having another year to go before his deal enters the final year of expiration.

Like Brunson, who signed well below the maximum amount of money he could have taken from New York's front office, Bridges left a little money on the table. He didn't take the same herculean sacrifice as his teammate, but Bridges took $6 million less than he could have to leave a little extra room to work with later while keeping the team under the dreaded second apron.

The Knicks now know how much it will cost to retain this current team for next year once they get a chance to build on this past season's momentum. Bridges' passing up on unrestricted free agency down the road in favor of a quicker extension is his way of saying he wants to be here, and after a rocky first season with the Knicks, he'll get a second chance to really prove himself to New York.