Knicks 'nearing deal for Nets' Mikal Bridges': New York rivals 'agree to swap' that reunites ex-Villanova star with Wildcats Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo... but at a HEFTY price!

The NBA offseason kicked into full gear on Tuesday night with a report that the Brooklyn Nets have agreed to trade star forward Mikal Bridges across the East River to the rival New York Knicks.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the Knicks will send four of their own unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027, 2029, 2031) to the Nets, as well as a 2025 protected Milwaukee Bucks first-round pick, a 2028 unprotected pick swap and a 2025 second-round pick. Finally, the Nets will reacquire Bojan Bogdanovic, the veteran Croatian forward who began his NBA career in Brooklyn back in 2014. 

The trade reunites Bridges with former Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo. The Wildcat quartet won the school’s second national championships together under coach Jay Wright in 2016. Brunson, DiVincenzo and Bridges won another national title together in 2018 after Hart had turned pro.

Bridges reacted to the news on X: 'This is crazy lol.' 

Neither Nets nor Knicks spokespeople have responded to DailyMail.com’s requests for confirmation.

Bridges had previously been considered untouchable by the Nets, according to various reports. 

After averaging 19.6 points a game for the struggling Nets, Bridges now joins a Knicks team that reached the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2024. 

Bridges was a first-round pick out of Villanova in 2018 by his hometown Philadelphia 76ers, who happened to employ his mother at the time.

But in a cruel twist of fate, Bridges was instead traded in a draft-night deal to the Suns and played his first four-plus seasons in Phoenix before being acquired by Brooklyn in the trade for Kevin Durant.

Bridges is owed around $48 million over the final two years of his contract. 

The agreement appears to mean the end of OG Anunoby’s brief tenure in New York after his reported decision to opt out of his contract and test the free-agent market. ESPN is reporting that the Knicks still hope to re-sign the defensive stopper, but that could make it difficult to re-sign center Isaiah Hartenstein. 

The Knicks acquired Anunoby from Toronto before the 2024 trade deadline, but he battled injuries over just 23 games with New York, while making only 9 of 13 postseason appearances.