The New York Knicks are prepping for a big 2025-26 season, and part of that is locking in key players, such as locking in Mikal Bridges. Now, Bridges is on track to be league’s 51st-highest paid player, according to Spotrac, when his deal begins during the 2026-27 season, making $33.48 million. That puts him between Jordan Poole at No. 50 ($34.04 million) and Julius Randle at No. 52 ($33.33 million) right now, but as everybody knows, salaries only go up in the NBA.
It was a big move by new head coach Mike Brown and company, and some are saying it was too much. But, here’s why nobody should be freaking out about the $150 million deal, which will keep Bridges alongside Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns in the lineup.
New York Knicks Got a Deal
In a feature published on Friday, Aug. 1, by Dan Favale of The Daily Knicks, he talks about why this was actually a good deal for the Knicks. “If you think Mikal Bridges’ $150 million extension is an overpay or exposes the New York Knicks to serious risk, consider this: He could have been waaaaay more expensive had he reached unrestricted free agency in 2026—to the tune of $200 million, or potentially much more,” he notes.
It’s a good point. Bridges’ max extension was capped at four years and $156.2 million, but if they had waited, he could have cost way more next season. It’s actually fairly impossible that they would have been able to retain him for $150 million next summer.
“Assuming the salary cap rises by 7 percent for 2026-27, like it did for 2025-26, here is where Bridges’ various max deals could’ve landed,” Favale notes, listing a four-year max with the Knicks for $222.4 million; five-year max with the Knicks for $287.9 million; and four-year max with another team for $213.5 million.
“A five-year deal worth $225 to $250 million would not have been out of the question for Bridges if he had standing four-year maxes elsewhere,” Favale adds in the piece. “Not only would the Knicks have been on the hook for an additional $75 to $100 million in committed money, but tacking on the extra season would’ve meant paying him through his age-34 campaign, a separate risk unto itself.”
Mikal Bridges Extension Had to Happen
In a separate piece for The Daily Knicks published by Favale, he adds that there are other benefits to the early signing, too.
“This is at once a luxury, and wasn’t guaranteed. Bridges could have opted to explore unrestricted free agency next summer, when there should be more teams with money to spend than this year,” he notes in the story. “That not only could have made him much more expensive, but it would’ve left the Knicks in the dark on his actual cost.”
In another piece, Favale adds that “ESPN’s Shams Charania reports that Bridges and the Knicks came to terms on a new deal as of July 31. Six months from that will be—you guessed it—January 31. That means Bridges can be rerouted to another squad just inside one week of the February 5 trade deadline.”
So, no matter how you slice it, this huge deal for Bridges was a necessary evil, for lack of a better term. It had to happen, and thankfully, it did.
