The New York Knicks and Mikal Bridges agreed to a four-year, $150 million extension on Thursday, as reported by his agents, Sam Goldfeder and Jordan Gertler of Excel Sports Management, per ESPN’s Sham Charania.
Bridges, 28, agreed to the slightly more team-friendly deal to help the Knicks continue building the roster around him. The alternative option was the max, which would have cost the franchise $156 million.
The extension features a player option for the 2029-30 season and a trade kicker. Bridges cannot be traded until six months after signing the extension.
This past season was Bridges’s first in New York, after Leon Rose traded five first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for his services. Despite a brief clash with former head coach Tom Thibodeau and the required time to gel with new teammates, Bridges finished his first season on Broadway with a solid stat line.
Bridges finished with 17.6 points, 3.7 assists, 3.2 rebounds, and 0.5 steals in 37.0 minutes per game. Once again, one of the NBA’s top iron men played all 82 regular-season games.
Shooting .500 from the floor, Bridges posted his best field goal percentage since the 2021-22 season when he averaged 14.2 points per contest for the Phoenix Suns. He also earned runner-up honors that campaign for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award.
Unfortunately, Bridges’s efficiency dropped in the postseason. The Knicks’ starting 2-guard shot .456 from the floor and .333 from downtown (compared to his .354 mark in the regular season), averaging 15.6 points per playoff game.
Mikal Bridges, who turns 29 in August, is now free of Tom Thibodeau, has a new deal, and enters his sophomore New York Knicks season with his teammates. The only remaining item for the non-NBA All-Star is to help his team win an NBA championship.