The New York Knicks “hope” to sign Mikal Bridges to an extension this NBA offseason.
“We hope to get something done. When you make the commitment to trade for a player like we did with Mikal, you do it with the intention of them being on the team for a long time,” a Knicks front office executive told Keith Smith of Spotrac.
The Knicks acquired Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets. Bridges averaged 17.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists in his first season with the Knicks while shooting 50.0% from the field, 35.4% from beyond the arc and 81.4% from the free-throw line.
Bridges will make $24.9 million next season. He can sign a four-year, $156 million extension with the Knicks, who made the conference finals last season for the first time since 2000. New York lost to the Indiana Pacers in six games.
Tom Thibodeau was fired as head coach of the Knicks despite going 226-174 in the regular season and 24-23 in the postseason and winning the 2021 Coach of the Year Award. He was replaced by Mike Brown.
NBA insider Ian Begley of SNY thinks the Knicks will wait to sign Bridges to an extension until they know for certain that Giannis Antetokounmpo is staying with the Milwaukee Bucks.
“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 (Bridges) has not been extended yet is because once you extend him, you cannot trade him for six months,” Begley said on The Putback. “And I think until the Giannis stuff is fully settled, and I don’t think it’s fully settled yet, as much as I’m sure Bucks fans hate to hear that because I would hate to hear that if I was a Bucks fan, but I don’t think it’s fully settled yet.
“And so as teams continue to keep an eye on that, continue to at least plan with that somewhere in the back of their mind, 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.”
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