The Bound Future: Bridges and New York!

Bridges signed a four-year, 150 million contract extension with the Knicks during the offseason. The two parties had already started planning for this contract as early as the beginning of the deal.

Shortly after getting Bridges, the Knicks and core guard Brunson reached a long-term contract, and it was a friendly contract that was well below the market price.

Judging from Brunson's contract renewal, the Knicks' choice can basically be determined. The consensus among core players is to operate around this spirit of sacrifice, so that this championship lineup can maintain its immediate combat effectiveness for a long time.

With Bridges signing a new contract, the Knicks, who made the first Eastern Conference Final in 25 years last season, can basically confirm that the five starting players of the team can be confirmed to stay in the team in at least the next two seasons. Although it took a considerable cost to retain these players, both sides made certain concessions in the process, and finally the contract was finalized successfully.

So, from the team's perspective, what is the significance of Bridges' contract renewal to the Knicks?

From the current perspective, the Knicks can be regarded as the most planned team in the league in financial management. They have avoided the influence of the second tyrant tax line for the second consecutive year. However, according to the contract structure, in the 2026-27 season and 2027-28 season, if they continue to choose to maintain the core lineup, it will basically be difficult to avoid the second luxury tax line.

Referring to the different situations of draft picks and whether Abussele will implement player options in the future, the Knicks' space under the second luxury tax line is only about 45-55 million. If Bridges' new contract starts at the upper limit, the annual salary for the 2026-27 season will be about 33.5 million, and the team may have only 9 contract players at that time, not including Mitchell Robinson. If Miro chooses to renew his contract and stay in the team, the Knicks' salary will significantly exceed the second luxury tax line.

But this is not a big problem. In the Knicks' long-term plan, their core has taken shape. Compared with the playoff teams, the restrictions on the second luxury tax line are more obvious, but the teams in the reconstruction stage. Refer to the second tyrant tax line, the most serious punishment: if the red line exceeds 3 years within 5 years, the first round in the future will be lowered to 30th place.

But according to the Knicks' contract arrangement, the team may not face the crisis of lineup reset until the 2027-28 season, when the Towns contract expires. Therefore, the Knicks' strategy is likely to be to fully sign and win the championship in the next three seasons, and then return to the second luxury tax line.

And Bridges' new contract fits the plan. Especially considering that Miro has not renewed his contract yet, if his health is unstable for a long time, the Knicks can completely choose to let him leave the team next summer to avoid touching the luxury tax and retain room for reinforcement.

In short, the Knicks' core lineup has basically been determined in the visible future timeline, either striving to win the championship with all its might or retaining some flexible space. Currently, few teams in the league can manage their salary as accurately as the Knicks, and Bridges' contract is reasonably embedded in the team structure.

Although Bridges' market value is not as good as Brunson, the two are very similar in contract salary. Both of them originally held contracts that were lower than the market price, and the increase in the new contract in the first year was limited to 40%.

Bridges can wait until the free market in 2025, he is almost certain to sign a five-year maximum salary contract with a starting salary of 30%, but if he chooses to get a little less, he will renew his contract early. Although Bridges is unlikely to get a 30% maximum salary in the free market in 2026, he still chose to renew his contract in advance and accepted a contract structure with a 40% starting salary increase.

In fact, Bridges still has not received the amount within his qualifications. If he increases the starting salary of 40% and the annual growth rate of 8%, his total amount can reach about 156 million. Although he ends up with 150 million, he does not have a significant salary cut like Brunson, under the luxury tax line punishment rules, every dollar is extremely important.

In addition, Bridges' contract renewal also helped the Knicks a favor in time. According to regulations, if the salary increase exceeds 20% in the first year or the annual salary increase exceeds 5%, the player will not be allowed to be traded within half a year. In response to this, some stars will deliberately delay the contract until late in the summer to sign, thereby avoiding mid-season trading. The best case is Markanen, who chose to sign on August 7, 2024, just avoiding the February 6 trading deadline.

And Bridges could have waited until August 6 to sign, which would have been a year-long banned transaction clause. But he finally chose to sign the contract on July 31, allowing himself to resume trading qualifications in January next year, and reserved the Knicks a few days before the trading deadline. Considering that the Knicks have always retained great interest in Antetokounmpo, the elastic space in the past few days is likely to be quite critical.

Bridges is willing to make room for trading elasticity for the Knicks, partly because the Knicks agreed to join some trading bonuses. If traded by the team during the contract, the Knicks will need to pay him a considerable amount of additional bonus.

From the perspective of players, the team Bridges has always wanted to play for is the Knicks, and he is willing to sacrifice for the team, but if he is eventually sent to a team he doesn't want to go to, he naturally hopes to get some of the difference.

In addition, Bridges has also won the player option for the 2029-30 season. The Knicks have never liked to add player options to their contracts in the past, and have only given up a little in recent years. Brunson got the player option because he was the core of the team and had sacrifices in the contract; Anunobi and Abussele got the chips in the free market..

For Bridges, this player option may be quite valuable in 2029. He will turn 33 by then, and if he is in good shape, he will be able to seek the last big contract of his career a year in advance.

Considering the league's demand for the forward line and the increase in salary caps, as long as Bridges can stay healthy, he may have a chance to make another profit.

Both the Knicks and Bridges made some sacrifices in this contract, and based on the cooperation results of both sides last season, this is a result that both sides can accept.

Although the Knicks scored into the Eastern Conference Finals, Bridges' personal performance was slightly lower than expected; and if he played better, he might be able to get a contract of 156 million and then sign later to avoid the risk of season trading. But in the end, this contract is already the best explanation of compromise.