Mikal Bridges was just as upset as Knicks fans were when the team picked Kevin Knox in the 2018 NBA Draft.
The current Brooklyn Net opened up about his draft day experience to the Tidal League podcast recently, admitting that not only did he think the Knicks were going to take him, but that New York was also his preferred destination.
“I thought I was going to go to New York at 9,” Bridges said. “I was excited though because I wanted to go to the Knicks, I wanted to be in New York, I’m like that’s lit – like, kind of close to home, but a little further out – and I love MSG, all my best games in college were there.”
However, the Knicks ended up going in a different direction, taking Knox instead of the Villanova product.
Knox, who was drafted out of Kentucky, was an unpopular choice, with Knicks fans booing the forward at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn upon hearing his name selected.
He underwhelmed during his tenure in New York.
Knox averaged a promising 12.8 points and 4.5 rebounds during his first season in 2018-19, but those remain career highs, and he saw his minutes decrease in every season before he was eventually traded to the Hawks as part of the Cam Reddish deal in January 2022.
Knox is currently a free agent, having most recently split the 2022-23 season between Detroit and Portland.
Meanwhile, Bridges is playing a starring role for the crosstown Nets, averaging 26.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists during his 27 games in Brooklyn this past season after being the central return piece in the Kevin Durant deal.
Had the Knicks taken him instead, perhaps he’d have been in the Big Apple for five years instead of five months.
Bridges told the podcast that he learned the Knicks weren’t taking him in real-time.
“I’m sitting at the green room table with my agents and my mom, like, might be here – they look, they kind of know before,” Bridges said, shaking his head.
Bridges was taken one pick later at No. 10 by the Philadelphia 76ers, his hometown team – but was then immediately traded to the Suns for Zhaire Smith and a future first-rounder.
His mother even worked for the Sixers at the time, and he was coming off two national championship titles at nearby Villanova.
Bridges appears to have now found a home with the Nets, who are working to rebuild their roster after the failed experiment with Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.
