Why Knicks Should Consider Mikal Bridges Mock Trade With Clippers

The New York Knicks have won three straight games to get to 5-4, but wing Mikal Bridges has not been part of the fix.

He is averaging 6.6 points on 32.9 percent shooting and 26.5 percent from three in 26.0 minutes a game, after scoring 14.4 a night last season, and that slump is why one trade idea is getting attention.

Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes proposed a trade on Saturday that sends Bridges to the Los Angeles Clippers for wing Max Strus and forward Derrick Jones Jr. In his version, the Clippers also get New York's 2027 second-round pick and a 2027 Washington second-round pick.

Money is the main reason this makes sense for New York, since Bridges makes about $33.5 million this season, and his deal runs through 2028-29 with a player option after that, while Strus and Jones are both on expiring contracts.

Hughes pointed out that moving Bridges would clear about $108 million over the next three years, and he tied that savings to keeping center Karl-Anthony Towns, who has a player option for 2027-28.

Bridges said he was not changing anything when he was asked about his shooting slump earlier this month.

"Just staying with it and just staying aggressive and keep finding opportunities," Bridges told the New York Daily News.

I respect that answer, and Bridges has earned some patience after playing all 82 games in each of the last two seasons and helping the Knicks win a title.

Still, his shrinking role is hard to ignore.

SNY's Ian Begley noted that head coach Mike Brown pulled Bridges in the third quarter in three of the first seven games, and Brown kept him to 13 minutes in Chicago late last month.

Jones is shooting 48.4 percent from three this season, and Strus gives the Knicks another shooter, though he has played only three games this season and 12 last season.

That injury history is the biggest risk in the deal, but two useful players on expiring deals give New York more options than one struggling player on a long contract.

The Clippers snapped a seven-game losing streak by beating New Orleans 139-123 on Sunday, but they are 2-7 and the NBA took away five of their first-round picks from 2029 through 2033.

Hughes wrote that Los Angeles could ask for New York's 2033 first-round pick to take on Bridges' contract, and that is where I would draw the line.

Two seconds feel like a fair price to me, and I would not add a first for a player who still defends when his shot is not falling.

The Clippers would take on about $6.3 million more in salary this season, and the trade deadline is Feb. 11, so there is no rush.

I would give Bridges a few more weeks, but if he is still shooting like this in December, the Knicks should pick up the phone.

They host Milwaukee on Tuesday and Cleveland on Wednesday, and the title defense depends on getting more from this spot.