It’s no secret that a loud contingent of the Knicks faithful is ready to hit the panic button onMikal Bridges following his latest offensive stupor. Given the massive expectations and the absolute haul of picks the front office surrendered to get him, watching him whiff open layups can cause understandable frustration.
But before you call up local sports radio to demand head coach Mike Brown bench the $150 million man, understand this is more of a short-term nuisance than a critical threat. You need only look back to last season, or Bridges’ whole career, to see there’s nothing to worry about.
Let’s break down just how rough this downturn has been, first.
Since the calendar flipped to March, the 29-year-old wing has been in an absolute offensive freezer.
Bridges has failed to eclipse 15 points in any of the last nine games, averaging 8.3 points a night on abysmal efficiency. He’s shooting 42.9 percent from two and 24.3 percent from three, far below his usual averages and his season as a whole.
Rock bottom came against the Lakers on March 8, when he played 27 minutes and posted a zero in the scoring column, going 0-6 from the floor. He’s only been to the line eight times during this stretch, exacerbating the dry spell by not getting easy looks.
Yet, despite the ragged scoring, Bridges isn't pouting. He isn’t demanding shots, forcing bad looks, or throwing up his hands in frustration.
Instead, he’s still digging in defensively, still running the floor hard, and making other plays. He has averaged 1.7 stocks in his shrinking minutes.
So, why shouldn't this mid-March meagerness matter in the grand scheme of things?
First, Bridges, like every other player who has ever touched a basketball, goes through slumps. And as soon as you look beyond these last two weeks, you realize how strong a season he’s had.
He’s otherwise averaging 16-4-4, shooting 59 percent from two, 39 percent from three, and doing more cardio than anybody else on the team despite never missing a game. He's been exactly the efficient, two-way third-ish option the Knicks needed alongside Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns for the vast majority of the 2025-26 campaign.
Then there’s the Iron Man tax. Bridges plays every single game, his long-vaunted active consecutive games played streak continually growing, now over 625 games.
While other guys tweak a hamstring, sit out a back-to-back, or take a rest day to get their minds and bodies right, Bridges stays on the floor. When fatigue hits, he just has to work through his slumps and heavy legs in real-time, and we’re likely seeing it now.
In fact, we saw it plenty of times last season. The reason you don’t remember is because much more important, memorable things happened soon after.
All that matters is the playoffs. Look no further than Bridges’ massive games to help New York win their series against Detroit and Boston.
In the meantime, it is mid-March, or the dog days of the season. The Knicks are close to locked into the second or third seed in the East, and there isn’t much to talk about when you’re largely rolling.
Despite Bridges’ recent offensive woes, the Knicks are 20-7 in their last 27 games, sitting pretty at 45-25. The next most hot-button issue on the team is the battle for rotation spot 10.
Ultimately, Bridges is a proven playoff performer who knows how to shoot his way out of a rut. The Knicks are built for the postseason, so let him work out the kinks now. When the games truly matter, history shows he’ll be ready.
