Additional details from last week’s blockbuster trade between the Nets and Knicks have been revealed.
Along with trading Bojan Bogdanovic, four unprotected first-round picks, a protected first-round pick via Milwaukee, an unprotected pick swap and a second-round pick to the Nets in exchange for star forward Mikal Bridges, the Knicks will also send guard Shake Milton and forward Mamadi Diakite to Brooklyn, and the Nets will finish the transaction by send forward Keita Bates-Diop to the Knicks, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The deal cannot be officially completed until the league’s moratorium is lifted Saturday afternoon. The Knicks needed to add salary to the trade in order to avoid being capped at the $178.7 million first apron and found the money they needed by including Milton and Diakite in the trade. The deal, as originally reported last week, would have left the Knicks in a tight spot in terms of roster construction because they were taking in more money than they were sending out.
Milton will be a sign-and-trade. He will ink a three-year, $9 million contract with a league-minimum salary in Year 1 followed by two non-guaranteed years. To make the deal work, the Knicks are guaranteeing $1.23 million of Diakite’s $2.3 million contract. Bates-Diop is on a minimum contract and does not count as additional salary.
The Knicks are currently $17 million below the second apron and have $2 million in unlikely bonuses that count toward the apron. Brooklyn can create a $23.3 million trade exception by absorbing Bogdanovic’s $19 million salary into an existing $20.3 million trade exception. The Nets are currently $13 million below the $170.8 million luxury tax line with 13 players.
Milton, who was acquired by the Knicks from the Detroit Pistons midseason, averaged 1.8 points across six games. Diakite, who went undrafted out of Virginia in 2020, now lands on his sixth NBA team after being on the Bucks’ championship roster in 2021 and winning a G League championship with the Lakeland Magic the same year. He appeared in just three games for the Knicks last season.
Bogdanovic’s $19 million salary next season will be fully guaranteed. Bridges averaged 19.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists last season for Brooklyn and appeared in all 82 games.
Before the Bridges deal, the Nets and Knicks had not made a trade since 1983. It was previously reported that Nets general manager Sean Marks was hesitant to trade Bridges in the past, despite heavy interest from numerous teams across the league, as he believed the 27-year-old was an ideal foundational piece for the franchise.
