What is Preventing Nets' Mikal Bridges Trade From Being Completed?

Despite a verbal commitment, the move is yet to be finalized.

Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

After the Brooklyn Nets agreed in principle to send Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks in exchange for Bojan Bogdanovic, four unprotected first-round picks, a protected first-round pick via Bucks, an unprotected pick swap and a second-rounder on June 25, five days later the move has not been made official.

This is due to New York's effort to avoid exceeding the NBA's hard cap, meaning they will be forced to include another player in the deal on top of Bogdanovic. Knicks' guard Miles "Deuce" McBride has been speculted to ultimately be including in the deal, but SNY reporter Ian Begley claims New York is exploring other avenues.

"The Knicks have virtually no interest in trading Miles McBride as part of the Mikal Bridges acquisition, according to people familiar with the matter," Begley wrote last night. "The current version of the trade would leave them capped at a team salary of around $178 million. They are surely searching for ways to avoid that hard-cap."

The Knicks have "very little appetite" in including Deuce McBride in the eventual Mikal Bridges trade, per @IanBegley: https://t.co/IMFIEXT4ya

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This situation could be detrimental to Brooklyn having just entered a full-on rebuild, eating up a chunk of its early stages the longer the trade is drawn out. In the end the Knicks may be forced to either forfeit the trade or cope with the idea of losing McBride, something Nets fans would likely welcome with open arms.