Knicks’ Mikal Bridges reveals expectations for first trip to Brooklyn since trade

Seven months after the blockbuster trade that sent him from the Brooklyn Nets to the New York Knicks, Mikal Bridges will return to the Barclays Center on Tuesday. Former Nets MVP expects a positive experience when he enters his former arena.

“It will be great to come back,” Bridges told SNI. “To see my teammates and the coaching staff that was there a few months before I was traded.” You see the staff and everything. (I expect) good energy.”

The Nets traded Bridges to the Knicks in June for five first-round picks, a first-round pick swap and a second-round pick. The deal — the first between the two teams since 1983 — relegated Brooklyn to irrelevance while elevating New York to contender status.

Michal Bridges returns to the Barclays Center seven months after selling the blockbuster

Bridges turned around the league after joining the Nets as the centerpiece of their return for Kevin Durant at the 2023 trade deadline. He averaged 26.1 points per game on 48/38/89 shooting in 27 appearances to close the season. That stretch raised hopes that he could be Brooklyn’s leading scorer as the team tries to rebuild the opposition.

However, last season he collapsed to the ground, and Brooklyn missed the game. While sending their best player to their cross-town rival was a tough pill to swallow, the Knicks’ offer was too good to pass up. There were also reports that Bridges had requested a trade to New York and was willing to use his route there, though Bridges and the Brooklyn office denied them.

Regardless, the trade was seen as a big win for the Nets, who now lead the NBA with 15 first-round picks over the next seven years. Bridges’ former Villanova and now Knicks teammate Josh Hart said there should be no anger from Brooklyn fans.

“I think they should show him some love,” Hart told Stefan Bondi of the New York Post. “Obviously he was only there for a year and a half, but he played there as long as he could. Apparently I bullied him last year on social media. For that he caught a swing. But he was always committed to that franchise and that fan base. Now he is here and they attacked him terribly. So I think it was a win for both franchises and they should show him some love when he gets there.”

The The Knicks won both games against the Nets earlier this season at Madison Square Garden. Bridges averaged 21.5 points on 18-of-35 (51.4 percent) shooting from the field and 7-of-17 (41.2 percent) from three in the pair of wins. He hit Brooklyn’s bench with his patented three-point celebration several times, to the displeasure of his former longtime teammate, Cam Johnson.

Bridges made a late return to form after a rough start. He averaged 18.1 points and 3.2 assists on 50/35/72 shooting while playing a career-high 38.7 minutes per game this season. However, New York didn’t get off to the start it had hoped for after spending nearly all of its chips on Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns this summer.

The Knicks have lost six of their last 10 games and sit in third place in the Eastern Conference at 28-16. Meanwhile, the Nets have lost eight of their last nine as they aim to maximize their lottery odds during the second half of this season.

“It’s going to be a good game,” Bridges said ahead of Tuesday’s match. “Excited. We beat them twice. I’m just trying to get another win.”