This Was a Massive Overpay by the New York Knicks

This Was a Massive Overpay by the New York Knicks

we have seen some wild trades in recent memory in the NBA that included an obscene amount of draft capital for just one player of course the Rudy goar trade comes to mind in which the Tim roll sent out four first round picks most of which were unprotected really five if you include Walker Kessler who had just been drafted by the wolves and hadn’t played in an NBA game yet at that time that he was traded or Donovan Mitchell getting traded to the Cavs in exchange for three first round picks and pick swaps those picks being unprotected as well or de jonte Murray and the Hawks sending the Spurs three first first round picks two of which were unprotected in 2025 and 27 maybe a bit further out but by the Clippers also sending out five first round picks for Paul George in addition to Shay gildas Alexander arguably one of the worst trades in history in hindsight given the emergence of SGA but none of these can come close to the trade deal that just went down between the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets where the Knicks just sent five first round picks a pick Swap and a second round pick including Boya bogdanovich to the Nets in exchange for Mel Bridges and while this trade certainly will make the Knicks better in adding even more talent to the roster this was a very Hefty price to pay for a great player but one that’s never even been an Allstar and you still have to worry about getting through one of the greatest teams we’ve seen in the NBA for a while now in the Boston Celtics and in fact I don’t even think I can call it a hefty price for Bridges this was a massive overpay on the part of the Knicks and I’ll explain why in this video of course if you’re new to the channel and you like this type of content then be sure to subscribe to help thean Channel grow and in return I’ll be providing more MBA content like this now in talking about this trade you of course have to bring up the history and the background for how the Nets got here to begin with the Nets historically have been the team to usually shell out large amounts of draft capital and future assets to make Allin type moves all but to go nowhere and setting their franchise back for decades they did it back in 2013 when they traded multiple unprotected picks to the Celtics for an aging Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce which said picks would ultimately turn into Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum and for a while they would go on to be one of the worst teams in the league while not controlling their picks but they would somehow fall into Kevin Durant who wanted to make a name for himself with a different franchise and they would push all in yet again just as they had finally been able to control all their draft picks again and mortgage most of their future to land James Harden in a trade to put together what they believed would be a dynasty with Kevin Durant Kyrie Irving and James Harden of course you know the story the Nets would fail to put together any kind of a consistent play with guys in and out of the lineup due to injury or suspended by the league in the case of Kyrie Irving but in short The Big Three never panned out they would never make it to the Conference Finals and the Nets were left in trying to pick up the pieces from one of the most disappointing super teams ever created in the NBA history but the Nets did have one thing in their side well they may not have had as much leverage in trading Kevin Durant when everyone knew that he was on his way out after Kyrie got moved to Dallas it was still Kevin Durant one of the biggest names in the NBA one of the greatest scores of the game of basketball has ever seen a superstar and they did everything they possibly could to get the kind of haul you would expect from a superstar player albeit an aging Superstar and they were able to acquire four unprotected first round picks as well as young talented players in Mel Bridges and cam Johnson the Nets while they still weren’t able to control their own picks they at least had recouped some draft picks to help them build for the future and initially it was believed hey the Nets are actually going to try to build around Mel Bridges and the reason for that thinking was because the Nets on multiple occasions said saw Bridges as a big part of their future and had no interest in trading him despite multiple teams inquiring about his availability and allegedly offering sizable trade packages to land him we heard teams offering upwards of three first round picks for Bridges sometimes four but the Nets held out they kept declining these offers and it’s funny because we all clown the Nets myself included like who do the Nets think they are who do they think Mel Bridges is he’s a really nice player I actually love his game but this isn’t a superstar here he’s not even an All-Star this is not Kevin Durant you’re not going to get equal value in a trade that you got for KD we laughed and laughed saying the Nets were unserious if they value bridges that much but turns out they got the last laugh because they waited to get the return they wanted that they were looking for and struck while the iron was hot and somehow got an even better trade package for male Bridges than they did for Kevin Durant again five first round picks unprotected in 25 27 29 and 31 coming from the Knicks as well as a protected first via Milwaukee and an unprotected pick swap in 2028 give the Nets a ton of credit because their future was in doubt just like it was back when they mortgaged their future for Paul Pearson Kevin Garnett and they somehow out of moving Kevin Durant netted nine first round picks eight of those being unprotected two first round pick swaps and three second round picks they are now sitting on a mountain of draft Capital that they can now build with for the future or potentially package and trade deals to add more talent and one additional piece that is so key in all this breaking news is that the Nets in addition to the bridges trade we also learned that they worked out a deal with the Rockets where Houston now relinquishes their right to swap picks with Brooklyn in 2025 which now means the Nets can full on tank and have control of their pick in this upcoming stacked draft class of 2025 now as for the Knicks because I’m sure you’re still asking well great but how was this an overpay for the Knicks first and foremost let me just say that in a vacuum without looking at the cost of getting Bridges I actually like the fit of Mel brid just being added to this roster he makes them a more Dynamic offensive team without its scoring power which the Knicks need solid defense as well and now you have a very well-balanced talented core of Brunson Bridges OG on anobi although Still Remains to be seen if the Knicks are actually going to be able to keep him as a free agent and Josh Hart they’re going to be a good team and they’re going to be better than they were last season assuming they’re all healthy but where I scratch my head a bit is does Mel Bridges really put them over the top Bridges now make them title favorites not just for this upcoming season but even beyond that like forget about the amount of picks they had to give up to get him is Bridges alone the last piece to winning a championship for the New York Knicks and I honestly can’t sit here with a straight face and say that it does because here are the other things that present a challenge for the Knicks after acquiring bridges in a trade one they’re now hard capped at the first apron with the projected salary going into next season at $178.7 million going back to what I was saying earlier this now makes it very difficult to resign OG on anobi who they just traded for the past deadline and is Seeking a near max level contract they could still resign OG because he is included within that hard cap but that likely means Isaiah hartstein isn’t coming back they won’t be able to afford him and it means they’re likely going to have to cut costs elsewhere which maybe if they’re able to dump Julius Randall that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world because then it gives them more flexibility to be able to resign OG to what he wants and maybe also keep hardenstein but if they’re not able to move Randall because his value isn’t exactly high right now and team’s willing to take on his contract then you’re in a really tough spot from a cap sheet standpoint where you really can’t make moves on the margins that’s one second and I’ve talked about this before so many times but trading unprotected first round picks especially that far out in the future is so risky in the NBA and I know some will say well doesn’t really matter because now the Knicks are going to be at the top of the standings and those will be late first rounders that they’re going to be sending out all it takes is a bad injury or two in a year where you don’t control your pick and all of a sudden you’re sending a lottery pick to the team that you just traded with that could potentially move up into the top four as well the NBA is so unpredictable from season to season one year you’re on top of the world and the next players don’t get along health issues arise and you could be on the outside looking in of the playoffs and for the Knicks three of these picks are three five and S years out from now in 2031 you have no idea what the landscape of the NBA is going to look like you have no idea what your roster is going to look like s years from now hell Bridges himself is going to be 34 by 2031 if things don’t work out and you have to Pivot at some point in the future and take a step back to rebuild you can’t do that not when you don’t control your own picks and in 2029 2031 what if you have the next generational level Talent at the top of the draft and you get the number one pick and you have to send it to the Nets and then the other piece to this the Knicks now have little flexibility in making more trades to upgrade their talent because they can’t send or include any picks in a deal that was one of the big things the Knicks had to their advantage is that they had a good amount of draft Capital at their disposal to use in trades not anymore they used all of it on this trade to get Mel Bridges and look all this would be fine and I wouldn’t have an issue with it if this was an all-in Type move that clearly made them title favorites like then it’s worth the risk of sending out most of your future when you put your best foot forward to win a championship that’s the ultimate goal at the end of the day but I just don’t see Bridges getting them there this is a fringe level All-Star who as the number one option on his team couldn’t get them to a play in in a weak Eastern Conference he’s good but he’s not that good that you trade a whopping five first round picks for and I can foresee a situation in which this could lead to the downfall of the Knicks in the distant future I’d love to hear what you guys think though let me know in the comments as always be sure to subscribe and I’ll see you in the next one

Discussing the breaking trade of the Knicks sending 5 first round picks to the Nets for Mikal Bridges

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