The Knicks gave away ALL of their picks in hopes of competing with the Celtics

It’s been 9 days because the Boston Celtics captured their 18th NBA championship, and we’ve already seen the primary main transfer from a group hoping to take them down subsequent season.

Tuesday’s late-night “Woj Bomb” despatched the NBA Twitter/X neighborhood right into a frenzy, as followers realized that Brooklyn Nets ahead Mikal Bridges was being traded to the New York Knicks for Bojan Bogdanovic and ALL of the picks.

The Knicks’ first-rounders in 2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031, a second-rounder in 2026, an unprotected decide swap in 2028, and the Milwaukee Bucks’ 2025 first-round decide all belong to the Nets now.

In return, Bridges will be part of three of his former Villanova teammates, Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, and Josh Hart, on a New York group that logged the second-best report within the Japanese Convention this previous season.

If the Knicks can retain free-agent ahead OG Anunoby this summer time, then they may have tailor-made their roster to try to greatest defend Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and the remainder of the Celtics.

That is merely what occurs when a group wins a title. Different groups within the convention need to mortgage their near-futures in an effort to even hope that they will grasp. Regardless of what all the Knicks followers would’ve instructed you, Boston dealt with their group all season lengthy.

The Celtics took 4 of the 5 matchups in opposition to New York, solely dropping an early April assembly at TD Backyard, for which they didn’t even get off of the bus. After all, Knicks followers handled this like a championship clincher.

Although they didn’t beat Boston, they managed to beat up on nearly everybody else within the second half of the season. Anunoby made a huge effect as a trade-deadline addition, the Knicks continued to play stifling protection, and Brunson spearheaded their offensive manufacturing.

You’ll’ve thought that that they had gained the title with the a number of championship parades their fanbase held after playoff video games. In the end, that didn’t occur. They went crashing out within the second spherical, after a Sport 7 loss to the Indiana Pacers at Madison Sq. Backyard.

It wasn’t for nothing, although.

New York’s end to the yr would’ve impressed any entrance workplace to exit and discover the lacking piece to a possible title contender.

They’ve formally made their try with Bridges.

The transfer actually equips them with the personnel to match up with Boston’s stars. Each Bridges and Anunoby have the size and defensive prowess to trigger complications for Tatum and Brown, to not point out that Hart and DiVincenzo are pests as properly.

Bridges additionally provides one other offensive choice to New York’s offense. It was clear that he didn’t fairly have the sport to be a robust No. 1 possibility in Brooklyn, however he confirmed some shot-creating capacity, and his three-point shot has been regular for his complete profession. The 27-year-old will have the ability to function a secondary creator and scoring possibility behind Brunson, including one other dimension to his new squad’s offense.

From a Celtics perspective, this isn’t the top of the world, nevertheless it does make it far harder to utterly key in on Brunson, as many groups did final season. Boston continues to be outfitted with top-tier defenders like Tatum, Brown, Derrick White, and Jrue Vacation, who can follow each Brunson and Bridges on the perimeter. To not point out that Kristaps Porzingis (in some unspecified time in the future) and Al Horford might be serving to to guard the rim.

At this level, it’s not clear what the Knicks plan to do with former All-NBA ahead Julius Randle, but when he’s round he’ll be one other scoring risk — despite the fact that his playstyle consists of loads of fumbling round earlier than taking a tough shot.

One participant that it appears like won’t be a Knick subsequent season is Isaiah Hartenstein. For Boston, that is fairly excellent news. Hartenstein was an enormous a part of New York’s impressed play in 2024. He served as a dependable offensive outlet and was a FORCE on the glass.

Towards the Cs final yr, he averaged almost 5 offensive rebounds, to go together with 6.4 factors per sport.

There’s a ton of offseason left, however forward of the NBA Draft, it feels just like the Knicks are going to be a top-heavy squad. They’ll have a robust six, then it’ll get cloudy from there. After all, there are methods round it, like buying and selling Randle for depth or drafting properly.

At this level, the Bridges commerce makes them a transparent second within the East, nevertheless it doesn’t fairly deliver them to Boston’s degree simply but.

I additionally wouldn’t be shocked if the Knicks have been on the town for Banner/Ring Night time in October, since their followers so desperately “wished Boston.”