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The vibes in the New York Knicks organization are the highest since the Pat Riley days. On Tuesday, June 25, Knicks general manager Leon Rose reunited now-former Brooklyn Nets SF Mikal Bridges with his Villanova Wildcat teammates PG Jalen Brunson, SG Donte DiVincenzo, and SF Josh Hart, and the Big Apple is buzzing. 

In return, the Nets received SF Bojan Bogdanovic and a boatload of draft capital, such as five future first-round picks. Sportsbooks, or the market, immediately gave the Knicks a better chance at winning the NBA championship next season. After acquiring Bridges, New York is tied for the fourth-best odds to win the NBA title.  

Some morons in the NBA community are trashing the trade, saying New York overpaid. The comp I keep hearing is what the Phoenix Suns gave Brooklyn to get Kevin Durant, which included Bridges and four future first-rounders. But, mortgaging your future for an injury-prone player past his prime who’s never had a title team built around him (KD) is different from trading for a core guy in his 20s. 

Furthermore, Bridges is the perfect fit for the Knicks. Not only did he win two national championships at Villanova with Brunson, DiVincenzo, and Hart. He’s also the type of player New York coach Tom Thibodeau loves. Bridges is an athletic 3-And-D guy who communicates on defense, can create his shot, and has never missed a game in his six NBA seasons. 

More importantly, one of the most underrated aspects of roster building is getting players on the “same timeline”. That’s how you create a winning culture and a title contender. Well, if New York retains its team from last season, its seven best players will be younger than 30 years old at the start of 2024-25. So, the Knicks hope those future first-rounders won’t be lottery picks anyway. 

NYK was the 2-seed in the 2024 NBA Playoffs and clearly the second-best team in the East behind the eventual champion Boston Celtics before getting nuked with injuries. If the Knicks resign C Isaiah Hartenstein and SF OG Anunoby and get normal injury luck, they’ll be in the conference finals next year. Frankly, +1000 is the best price you’ll get for New York’s title odds, so bet it now. 

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Follow me on X (or Twitter, whatever) @Geoffery-Clark and check out my OutKick Bets Podcast for more betting content and random rants. I’ll add bets to my NBA 2023-24 betting record via X all season.