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But, please, let there be a section on Mikal Bridges.
It is Bridges, after all, whose stint with the Knicks sometimes seems like a microcosm of the franchise. In 2023, the team traded four unprotected first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets—along with a top-four protected first-round pick from the Milwaukee Bucks, an unprotected pick swap, a second-round pick, and the veteran Bojan Bogdanović—to get him. His appeal was obvious: he was a relentless defender, an excellent shot creator, and had a certain gravity on the court. He had the kind of endurance and physical toughness that Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks’ coach at the time, lionized: Bridges had never missed a game in his N.B.A. career. Plus, he had proven chemistry with his new teammates, having won a national championship (or two!) with Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo while in college at Villanova. But the cost was stratospheric. The Phoenix Suns gave up roughly as much to get Kevin Durant, one of the top fifteen players of all time. Bridges had never made an All-Star team. “Did th