Mikal Bridges is a Misunderstood Artist

Mikal Bridges came to the Knicks to play with his 3 college buddies. After being jettisoned from Phoenix for Kevin Durant, and sent to purgatory—trapped in the cave with nothing but paint and the cave walls to pass the time—Bridges mastered his artistry and prepared to share his gifts with his squad.

Then the Knicks traded one of his friends and Julius Randle to Minnesota for Karl-Anthony Towns weeks before the season started and suddenly, Bridges looked around practice to see KAT looking like the best center in the East or OG Anunoby having a way more developed offensive game than he thought or even his friends, Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, looking way better than they did back when they played together at Villanova—and realized he was not about to have fun and paint with his old fraternity brothers.

The Knicks are gunning for an NBA title and Mikal Bridges wants to paint masterpieces.

Mikal Bridges tonight

21 points
5 assists
8-12 FG
2-3 3P

Middy Mikal
pic.twitter.com/xlCKgDWF1r

— Teg🚨 (@IQfor3) October 26, 2024

Mikal Bridges is a midrange master.

He is literally leading the NBA in fadeaway jumpers this season.

Bridges isn’t in the Knicks offense.

He and the Knicks offense both work concurrently throughout a game.

KAT and Brunson have the best pick-and-roll game in the NBA. Josh Hart and OG Anuonby always know exactly where to be on the court while a play develops.

And then Mikal Bridges spawns in the middle of a possession to drain a contested midrange jumper as he’s fading away toward the bench.

He moves like a house cat chasing a laser pointer, zig-zagging unpredictably into the paint, awkwardly staggering defenders to give him juuuuust enough space to drain a 15-footer that hits every part of the rim before going in.

And you know he’s at the peak of his powers when he breaks out the 3-point celly:

Mikal Bridges to the Nets bench. pic.twitter.com/jvsok85z85

— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) November 18, 2024

Bridges moves like a marionette controlled by a Michael Jordan-obsessed Geppetto.

I love watching Bridges play.

Sometimes.

On Saturday, the Knicks lost 121-106 to the Utah Jazz—the worst team in the NBA.

Bridges tried to paint blindfolded. It didn’t work out.

Here’s what Picasso did against Utah:

7 points
3-for-15 shooting
1-for-7 from 3
3 rebounds
0 assists
1 steal
1 block
2 turnovers

Bridges spent the 4th quarter on the bench watching Cam Payne in his place.

Here’s what Mikal said after the game:

“It’s easy when you making shots, you can play defense. So we just gotta find a way when we’re missing. There’s gonna be them games––get through it”

–– Mikal Bridges after 121-106 loss to Utah pic.twitter.com/wLPr99q3dl

— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) November 24, 2024

He said the team’s defense struggled because they weren’t making shots.

And that certainly happens sometimes in college or at the LA Fitness down the road but Mikal Bridges’s defense was been suspect all season.

Bridges finished 2nd place for the Defensive Player of the Year trophy in 2022.

He and OG were supposed to put every team in the torture chamber but Mikal frequently gets beat off the dribble and lets guys effortlessly cut backdoor on him while he’s sketching his next piece in his head.

Mikal Bridges is simply a misunderstood artist.

Unfortunately for him, the 2024-25 Knicks are trying to win an NBA Championship, not paint the Sistine.

Mikal was thrust into higher expectations than he expected.

He’s playing like these games are meaningless exhibitions while everyone else is hyper-focused on the win.

I love seeing Mikal hit circus trick shots and singlehandedly change the tempo of a game, darting from one side of the court to the other in a blink of an eye but I’d love to see him box out or keep the guy he’s defending in front of him or swing the ball for an extra pass around the perimeter for an even better shot—ya know, the little shit that championship-caliber players do.

Mikal Bridges may have been misdiagnosed as a key role player to help a team make the NBA Finals after his run with the Phoenix Suns.

In reality, he’s more focused on throwing paint on a canvas to recreate the art occupying his mind’s eye.

The Knicks traded 7,000 draft picks for Jalen Brunson’s weird, artistic Brooklyn friend who has no real goals.

Thankfully, Bridges is only like, the 5th most important player on this team. No singular win or loss is on his shoulders.

Let’s enjoy seeing him hit these absurd jumpers and maybe he’ll start playing defense at some point this year. Maybe.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed what you read, head over to our substack sign up for Let’s Get This Dread, the daily Deadseriousness newsletter sent directly to your inbox every AM.

Follow us over on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee.