Michael Bridges joins 3 former Villanova teammates, including Jalen Brunson, following a trade to the New York Knicks.
Michael Bridges is crossing the East River and joining three of his former Villanova teammates with the New York Knicks, who traded five first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for the 27-year-old forward.
The Knicks are all-in after coming one win short of the Eastern Conference Finals last month. The Nets, meanwhile, are taking another step backwards.
Here are some numbers to know about the bridges from Brooklyn to Manhattan:
1. Mr. Trusted and well traveled
1. Bridges hasn’t missed a game since coming into the league six years ago, playing in 83 games in 2022-23 when he was traded from Phoenix to Brooklyn.
2. His 15,479 regular season minutes are the most of any player over the past six seasons.
3. He was second in total miles traveled (211.7) last season, leading the league the last two seasons.
2. Numbers dropped in second season in Brooklyn
4. Feb. After being traded from Phoenix in 2023, Bridges had a 29.5% usage rate and averaged 26.1 points in 27 games with the Nets in 22-23. Last season, he had a 23.8% usage rate and averaged just 19.6 points per game.
5. His 51.8% shooting in the paint is a career low.
6. His 40.8% from midrange is down from 45.3% in ’22-23 and ranks 52nd out of 81 players with at least 100 midrange attempts.
7. His steals per 36 minutes (1.0), blocks per 36 minutes (0.4) and deflections per 36 minutes (1.6) are all career lows.
3. Big shots, corner 3s
8. Bridges was sixth in total points in the clutch (scoring within five points in the final five minutes) last season.
9. Tied for fifth with six buckets (in 14 attempts) to tie or take or lead in the final minute of the fourth quarter or overtime.
10. He finished fourth in 2023-24 with 82 corner 3-pointers, though that was down from 88 (second) the previous season. His percentage of 3-point attempts from the corner has dropped in each of the last three seasons, from 61% in 2020-21 to 35% in ’23-24.
4. A lot more drives, a few more assists
11. Bridges’ 870 total drives and 11.4 drives per 36 minutes are both career highs by wide margins.
12. He had a 15.9% assist rate over those 27 games with the Nets in 2022-2023, though that ranks just 59th out of 86 players with a usage rate of 22% or higher.
13. According to Synergy Tracking, he scored just 0.72 points per isolated possession. That’s the third-worst mark among 56 players with at least 100 isolated possessions.
5. Protects more
14. Opponents made 46.5% of the shots Bridges defended, compared to an expected 47.0% field goal percentage on those shots. That difference (minus 0.5%) was the best mark of his career.
15. Bridges allowed 0.74 points per possession in isolation, which ranked eighth among 109 players who secured at least 50 isolation possessions, according to Synergy.
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John Schuhman is a senior statistical analyst for NBA.com. You can email him here, find his archive here and Follow him on X.
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