To Mikal Bridges and Knicks, sacrificing dollars for team makes sense
Knicks forward Mikal Bridges slaps five with guard Jalen Brunson against the Houston Rockets at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 3. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
GREENBURGH
It wasn’t long ago — recent enough that it still haunts Knicks fans — that the franchise issued an apology for its failed efforts in chasing stars. It was unable to even get sit-downs with the prizes of the 2019 free-agent class.
And all that makes it more remarkable that up and down the current roster, the Knicks are loaded with players who came without the hype of that 2019 class but not only have helped the team reach levels it hadn’t in a quarter-century but have trimmed their asking price to help the front office build a deep roster to continue the championship chase.
It was last summer that Jalen Brunson signed a $156.5 million contract extension, leaving a potential $113 million more on the table by not waiting another year. This summer, Mikal Bridges provided a slight but important bit of flexibility by taking a $150 million extension, $6 million less than what he could have commanded.
Even low-cost additions Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele agreed to work their numbers to allow the bench-building to continue. Clarkson took a veteran’s minimum to preserve the midlevel exception for Yabusele, who took a discount to open up another veteran minimum spot.
When Bridges’ concession was mentioned to Brunson, he joked, “He left six million. I’m not counting, though.”
In reality, it might have been more unexpected for Bridges to give up the money than for Brunson’s massive savings.
Brunson already had established himself as the centerpiece of the organization, named captain shortly after he signed the extension. Bridges’ first year with the Knicks was a struggle much of the season, perhaps best defined by the day in Portland when he drew the ire of coach Tom Thibodeau for comments about minutes usage. Bridges recovered to score 33 points that night, including the game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer.
Before a pair of defensive gems by Bridges helped the Knicks beat Boston in the Eastern Conference semifinals, his season was mostly notable for fans bemoaning the haul of draft picks the Knicks surrendered to obtain him from the Nets. He heard the criticism and seemed to sulk at times. It seemed unlikely that he’d look to extend his stay at Madison Square Garden, but he said he never considered another option.
“Because I love it here,” he said. “Love the fans, love the culture, love the staff and everybody, front office, everything, teammates. That’s probably the biggest thing. I know, throughout last year, last year was tough throughout the season and playoffs helped a little bit, but I think I just appreciate the fans and everybody.
“I think a lot of people thought I might be upset because everybody was getting on me too hard, but I think I was more mad at myself because everything they want was what I want, so it’s not like a ‘why y’all getting on me?’ Some things get a little too crazy, but that’s just life [and] how it is.”
With that clear, he said he was content not to chase the max dollars.
“I think if I came in here and preached how much I want to win and tried to take every dollar and make it difficult for the organization, I’d seem like a fraud, and that’s not who I am,” Bridges said. “I want to win bad, and whatever it takes. I love all our guys here, so why wouldn’t I want the next man up who needs some money, why wouldn’t I give them an opportunity to get paid as well? So I think I’ve got a good amount of money. I don’t think a couple more [millions] will change my life.”
“I think it’s important to figure out as the individual, what do you want?” Brunson said. “We’re very lucky and fortunate to be in the position we are as basketball players. For me, I don’t take anything for granted. So no matter what the situation was with me, my lifestyle doesn’t really change from the individual standpoint.
“From the team standpoint, it’s great for us because we have a lot of guys who want to win. They want to buy in. And I think when you do something like that, people see it. I think as a team, it’s really cool to see. Now let’s see what we can do with it.”
Both players dismissed any notion that anyone should make too much of the dollars left on the table. Honestly, it would take some effort to ever get to the bottom of their bank accounts. But there is something to be said about their unselfishness in a world in which max contracts are collected and boasted about like MVP awards. And for a team that has been together, a willingness to stay together is something.
“One of the big things when we’re talking about our standards, and I’ve hit this before: The first one is sacrifice, second one is connectivity, competitive spirit, a belief in the overall process and each other,” coach Mike Brown said. “All that is coupled by accountability, and that to me hits home on the first one: You sacrifice.
“You sacrifice who you are and what you are for the betterment of the team, and there’s no better way to show that publicly, to show your teammates and everyone else, than to do what they did.
“And it just sets the tone going for that ‘that’s what this team’s about’ because that’s what those individuals are about, and that’s what they’re going to bring to the team.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
