It looks like the Mikal Bridges to the Knicks trade framework is finalized, and can become official when the new league year starts Saturday.
According to multiple reports, including The Athletic, the Knicks finalized the deal by including Mamadi Diakite and by agreeing to send Shake Milton to Brooklyn in a sign-and-trade that will see Milton sign a three-year deal worth $3 million in 2024-25.
So, the final trade looks like this: Bridges and Keita Bates-Diop to the Knicks for Bojan Bogdanovic, Diakite, Milton, and the five future draft picks.
The Knicks guaranteed $1.23 million of Diakite’s salary this season to avoid the hard cap, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks; as they are sending out more money than they are taking in, they will stay below the $173 million first apron after the deal, which will allow them to spend above that sum.
Bridges is at $23.3 million on the cap and Bates-Diop is on a minimum deal so he does not count according to SNY’s Ian Begley, so the Knicks sending Bogdanovic ($19,032,850), Diakite ($2,273,252), and Milton ($3,033,880) leveraged about $1 million in space, and they can now spend up to a hard cap of $189 million – the second apron of the NBA salay cap – and still use their full taxpayer mid-level exception of $5.2 million.
Translation: the Knicks have about $17.8 million below the cap, plus the $5.2 million exception, to be able to add further depth – potentially re-signing Precious Achiuwa and adding more frontcourt depth, as they are thin up front after losing Isaiah Hartenstein.