Late Thursday afternoon, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that New York Knicks forward Mikal Bridges has agreed to a four-year, $150 million contract extension with the franchise. This deal was not overly shocking, as after looking at how much the Knicks gave up to get Bridges last offseason, it was a no-brainer to extend. However, the dollar amount of this deal should make the Pelicans' front office and their fans laugh.
$150 million divided by four years rounds out to $37.5 million on average per season. On top of that, Bridges has a player option for the 4th year and a trade kicker. With Herb Jones signing a 3-year extension worth $68 million over three years, it really makes you realize that the Knicks significantly overpaid for Bridges. Jones will be making roughly $22.6 million a year once the extension kicks in, and when you compare him and Mikal side by side, there's no reason for Bridges to be making almost $15 million more.
The noticeable difference between the players is that Bridges has a little bit more to his game offensively than Herb does. That being said, when teams have been most successful with Mikal Bridges, it was when he was strictly a three-and-D player, and wasn't trying to be a shot creator like he has been since being traded from Phoenix.
In my eyes, his actual value comes in a similar role as Jones, being that defensive stopper who can space the floor and can, but doesn't handle the ball.
Even when in the same role, Herb Jones is just better
In all honesty, though, it's not like Mikal is better than Herb even when he is playing the same role. When looking at both guys as three and D players, Jones definitely ain't as consistent and as knockdown from deep as Bridges is. But, to me, the more important part of a three-and-D player is the defensive, because every three-point shooter is going to have off nights, but on the defensive side, great defenders rarely have bad nights.
And when comparing both players, Herb is a way more versatile and skilled defender. Herb can truly guard every position and is a top 5 defender in the league because of it. Bridges, on the other hand, is still a good defender, but lacks the size to hang with the bigger forwards and centers as a defender.
Again, I'm not here to clown the Knicks as I get entirely why they paid him. They traded six first-round picks for him last summer. They had no choice but to extend him. However, I'm just pointing out that Herb Jones extension, which already looked like a steal, is now an even bigger one. Whether you think Bridges brings more value than Jones, no one in their right mind can tell me he is worth nearly $15 million more a season.