The Knicks gave Mikal Bridges a four-year, $150 million fully guaranteed contract last August. They also surrendered five first-round picks to pry him out of Brooklyn the summer before that. Five picks. In a league where first-rounders are currency, New York basically handed over a down payment on a dynasty to get this guy.
Then Mike Brown sat him for the final nine minutes of Game 3 against the Hawks.
The Contract Context
Bridges went scoreless in 21 minutes that night, finished with a -26 rating while Miles McBride was out there cooking at +29. The head coach of the team decided, in a playoff game, that his $150 million cornerstone was a liability. That’s not a rotation choice. That’s a confession.
76ers 3-1 comeback complete.
Pistons 3-1 comeback complete.This marks the first time in Playoffs history that there have been multiple teams come back from a 3-1 deficit in the same round 🤯
NBA Playoffs presented by @Google pic.twitter.com/qwMRocJiQS
— NBA (@NBA) May 3, 2026
Now, Game 6 happened. Bridges put up 24 points on 10-for-12 shooting. Looks great on paper. But the Knicks won by 51. Against a Hawks team that had mentally checked out before halftime. Dropping 24 in a 51-point blowout doesn’t fix anything — it confirms the problem is situational. When the opponent has quit, Bridges can fill a box score. When a game is tight and something needs to happen, he’s watching from the bench in street clothes.
The structural issue isn’t effort or attitude. It’s that the Knicks built a $150 million load-bearing wall around a player whose best basketball comes in low-leverage moments. That worked fine in the regular season. The playoffs have a different physics.
The Embiid Threat
Philadelphia’s series against Boston already told you everything about what’s coming. Joel Embiid missed the first three games recovering from an appendectomy, then returned and went 34 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists in a road Game 7. He averaged 28/9/7 across his four games. He became the first player in NBA history to score 100-plus points in a series despite sitting out the first three games.
Embiid is exactly the kind of player who puts a microscope on whatever problem you’ve been hiding. He draws doubles, he collapses defenses, he forces rotations — and somewhere in those rotations, Bridges is going to end up in a moment that matters. Then New York will have to decide in real time whether their $150 million investment is trustworthy enough to stay on the floor.
The Knicks are -260 series favorites. The market thinks this isn’t close. Maybe it’s not. But a team can be the better team on paper and still have a decision-making problem at the worst possible time.
Series Outlook
New York is going to win this series. Probably. They’re deeper, they’re healthier, and Embiid’s conditioning after major abdominal surgery is still a question mark even if his Game 7 was spectacular. The Sixers don’t have the supporting cast to make up for every minute Embiid isn’t at 100 percent.
But the Bridges question doesn’t go away just because New York advances. Every close game in this series is going to force Mike Brown’s hand. Every time Bridges goes cold in a tight fourth quarter, the bench conversation is going to start. And if the Knicks do get into trouble — if Embiid goes nuclear and the series gets weird — Bridges being a $150 million question mark is not a reassuring fact to sit with.
He’s not the worst player on the roster. He’s not done. He might be fine. But “might be fine” is a concerning thing to say about the most expensive piece of a playoff contender with five missing first-round picks baked into the cost.
The blowout game was nice. Tonight the game is actually going to matter.
