Knicks Newest Star 'A Kid Again' After Trade

Mikal Bridges has found an apparent fountain of youth with the New York Knicks.

Mar 23, 2024; New York, New York, USA; Brooklyn Nets forward Mikal Bridges (1) looks to drive past New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) in the first quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports / Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

If the fountain of youth is real, it apparently exists on Seventh and Eighth Avenues in Midtown Manhattan, namely at the New York Knicks' home of Madison Square Garden.

So claims Mikal Bridges, who said that his trade to the Knicks from the Brooklyn Nets has the soon-to-be-28-year-old feeling even younger.

"I thought I was going to be here in 2018," Bridges recalled in his first public statements as a Knick in video from SNY. "I love everything about the team: (head coach Tom Thibodeau), and the crowd, MSG, all that. It's the history."

Mar 23, 2024; New York, New York, USA; Brooklyn Nets forward Mikal Bridges (1) gestures after making a three point shot in the second quarter against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports / Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

"I feel like now, coming here, it just, I don't know, makes me feel like a young kid again with all the memories. When you think basketball when I was young, you think about old school, there was always the Knicks, like that was what you always think about. You think about MSG and the guy who made the Knicks song, just all that stuff."

Bridges likely refers to the "Go NY Go" song penned by Jesse Itzler, one that continue to play at the modern Garden when Knicks victories are mostly assured.

As for his reference to 2018, Knicks fans are perhaps somewhat jaded over the fact that their team's Villanova revolution could've tipped off a lot sooner: New York could've chosen Bridges with the ninth overall pick in that summer's draft but opted for future Kentucky washout Kevin Knox instead. Bridges was instead drafted by his hometown team, the Philadelphia 76ers, who immediately shipped him off the Phoenix Suns.

Now paired with fellow former Villanova Wildcats Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, and Josh Hart, Bridges was quick to make up for lost time: shortly after his first statements, the team's social media accounts caught him taking to the team's practice facility floor in Tarrytown.

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