New York Knicks forward Mikal Bridges has agreed to a four-year, $150 million contract extension with the franchise, his agents, Sam Goldfeder and Jordan Gertler of Excel Sports Management, told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Thursday.

The deal includes a player option for 2029-30 and a trade kicker. Bridges is ineligible to be traded for six months after signing the extension.

Bridges is taking a slight discount from his max extension number ($156 million) to help New York maintain flexibility to continue building the roster. Bridges, along with Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and others, helped lead the Knicks to their first Eastern Conference finals appearance in 25 years last season.

With the Bridges deal sewn up – his contract had been set to expire after the 2025-26 season – the most pressing question left in New York’s offseason has been resolved. The Brunson extension in 2024 and now the Bridges deal have given the Knicks flexibility to operate under both aprons of the salary cap, giving them room to add more players to the roster.

Bridges was coming off an up-and-down inaugural campaign with New York after being traded to the club for five first-round draft picks last summer, which prompted speculation that the Knicks might seek to deal him rather than hammer out a big-money extension.

Bridges, who turns 29 in August, struggled early on as the Knicks used him to guard floor generals and ball handlers, a role the one-time runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year was unaccustomed to. His free-throw attempts were down sharply from the season before as he adjusted from being a first or second option with the lowly Brooklyn Nets to being fourth in the Knicks’ pecking order on many nights. And he raised eyebrows within the relatively buttoned-down organization in March when he said he had asked then-coach Tom Thibodeau to back off a bit on the starters’ heavy minutes, telling reporters, “sometimes it’s not fun on the body.”

Former Brooklyn Nets forward Bojan Bogdanovic is set to have season-ending foot surgery.

The Nets intend to part ways with Bogdanovic and are finalizing a 10-day contract with former lottery pick Killian Hayes.

With Bogdanovic waived, Brooklyn frees up roster spots for Hayes and converts Tyrese Martin from a two-way deal to a two-year, $2.8 million standard contract.

Bogdanovic’s last game was nearly a year ago for the New York Knicks, where a left foot injury in Game 4 of the first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers ended his season.

He had already been dealing with a wrist injury and underwent surgery to repair both.

Following the surgery, Bogdanovic was used as a salary filler in the deal that sent Mikal Bridges to the Knicks and brought five first-round picks to the Nets.

Bogdanovic never played a game for Brooklyn and had only recently begun on-court activities, still a long way from playing.

“He’s done a great job showing up here every day, trying to get healthy. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get to that point, and he made the decision to get surgery. We fully support him,” Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez said.

Bogdanovic was picked 31st in the 2011 NBA Draft.

Now in his 11th season, he’s played for six different teams throughout his career—the Nets, Knicks, Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons. He holds career averages of 15.6 points per game, shooting 46% from the field and 39.4% from three.

Signed by the Pistons in 2022, he is currently in the final season of his two-year, $39 contract.

Hayes, who was selected seventh overall in the 2020 NBA Draft by Detroit, signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Nets. He attended their training camp but was sidelined by a hip injury, causing him to miss all of Brooklyn’s preseason games. They waived him before the 2024-25 season began, and he has been playing for the G-League affiliate on Long Island, putting up 21 points and 8.3 assists per game.

The Knicks made a slam-dunk trade before 2024’s NBA draft. They acquired forward Mikal Bridges from the crosstown Nets in exchange for five first-round selections, one pick swap and guard Bojan Bogdanovic. Even though this trade boosted perimeter defense and solidified New York as an NBA finals contender, financial limitations arose.

Beforehand, the deal would have hard-capped New York at over $178 million. The situation arose since more money was coming in than out. This caused the Knicks to add salary to stay within this amount.

Former 76ers guard Shake Milton agreed to a sign-and-trade in which he will be sent to Brooklyn for three years, worth $9 million. Milton’s contract gives the Nets room, as two years are non-guaranteed. Mamadi Diakite will see his $1.23 million salary become guaranteed, while the Knicks will retain Keita Bates-Diop on league minimum. Bridges, Bates-Diop and a second-rounder for 2026 will now go to the Knicks after the tweaks. These moves help the Knicks add to their roster to build on from 2023 and go $17 million under the second apron.

Following the moves, New York can resign Precious Achiuwa or acquire a backup center since Isaiah Hartenstein left in free agency. Achiuwa played in 49 games last season, averaging 7.6 points per game while grabbing 7.2 rebounds.

The former Nets forward averaged almost 21 points per game, 4.7 boards and 3.7 assists in 66 games last season. Bridges will get the opportunity to play with Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo in 2024, his former teammates from Villanova’s 2015-16 championship season. As time expired, the Wildcats prevailed over the Tar Heels 77-74 off a game-winning three from Kris Jenkins.

New York Knicks came to terms with forward OG Anunoby, keeping him on the team in a five-year, $212.5 million deal. Anunoby arrived in New York in a trade with the Raptors earlier this year.

Anunoby opted out of his previous deal two days ago, entering free agency, but New York acted quickly to lock him down for the foreseeable future. The forward contributed to the Knicks’ historic 2023-24 season, in which they won 50 games and earned the second seed in the Eastern Conference. The forward contributed to the team’s historic 2023-24 season, in which they won 50 games He will rejoin teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Julius Randle and newly acquired star Mikal Bridges, who the Knicks received in a blockbuster trade with the Nets on Tuesday.

Though New York lost in the Eastern Conference Semifinals last season, injuries were mostly to blame for preventing the team from advancing further. Besides the Celtics, very few teams looked stronger throughout the regular season than the Knicks, who have retained most of their talent from last season and added Bridges, an iron man with elite playmaking ability.

New York first targeted Anunoby earlier this year for his size and skill on the perimeter. He delivered, scoring 14.1 points per game for the team and improving their defense overall.

Injuries are a concern for the forward, who has missed nearly a full season’s worth of games over the last three years, but his results in New York are unquestionable to this point. The Knicks went 20-3 in the regular season when Anunoby appeared on the floor for them. He was integral in the team’s playoff series victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, though he did less for the team against the Pacers while he nursed a hamstring injury.

Many speculated that the Knicks were an over-performing team in the 2023-24 NBA season, taking advantage of the Bucks’ and 76ers’ regression to carve out a 50-32 record. As the team continues an extremely productive off-season, however, it’s becoming clear that the team might actually be getting stronger.

The Phoenix Suns are concerned that Kevin Durant’s ankle injury, which he suffered in Phoenix Wednesday during warmups, could force him to miss the remainder of the regular season. Durant wore a walking boot as he exited the Footprint Center after the Suns’ 132-101 victory against the Thunder.

Durant suffered the injury during a routine warmup session before the game, rolling his ankle while attempting a layup. Though he managed to stand up on his own power and even went on to finish his pre-game work, he was eventually taken back to the locker room for treatment. He was later ruled out of the game, which would have been his home debut for Phoenix.

According to the Arizona Republic, there are now concerns within the organization that Durant’s ankle injury is a Grade 2 sprain, which could take four to six weeks to heal. If this diagnosis is confirmed, his recovery timeline would line up almost exactly with the end of the NBA regular season on Apr. 9. Durant could also miss the start of the playoffs if the sprain persists, as the first round begins on Apr. 15.

The timing of Durant’s setback could not be worse for the Suns, who acquired the superstar from the Brooklyn Nets in a blockbuster trade on Feb. 9. Phoenix gave up promising contributors Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson to get Durant, sacrificing depth in order to bolster a starting five that already included Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton.

With a 37-29 record this season, the Suns are currently fourth in the Western Conference and have a very comfortable path to the postseason. Nevertheless, the team’s championship hopes could suffer if Durant has to take an extended absence. His return in the playoffs may not provide enough time for the team to properly prepare for the better opponents in its conference.

In three games with the Suns, Durant led his new team to three victories, including a 130-126 win over the Dallas Mavericks in which he scored 37 points. His return on Mar. 1 came after a month-long absence to recover from a knee injury he suffered while playing for Brooklyn.

Chris Paul began the game by going just two of eight from the field in the first three quarters of Game 1, but when the fourth quarter rolled around, Paul was lights out. CP3 converted all six of his shots from the field during the final frame. Paul delivered when it mattered most and his late-game heroics allowed the Phoenix Suns to defeat the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals by a score of 122-105. Paul finished with a stat line of 21 points, 11 assists and six rebounds. Teammate Deandre Ayton commended this performance. “It’s in his hands, man,” Ayton said. “He’s made us comfortable… just knowing that he’s got it.”

Paul’s performance is even more impressive considering his injury struggles. Just two weeks ago in Game 1 versus the Los Angeles Lakers, Paul sustained a shoulder injury. Discussing the injury, Paul explained that as the game goes on, the shoulder improves and loosens up. Paul is also in the later stage of his career and this performance made Paul the oldest player in NBA history with 20 points, 10 assists and 5 rebounds in a playoff game (36 years old). Only four other players have ever done that after the age of 35 years old.

Nuggets’ Aaron Gordon praised Paul. “Man, it’s a different game for him these days from when I was watching him play,” Gordon said. “He was a lot more explosive back in the day, getting to the cup. He’s always been really smart, and he just keeps getting smarter. He’s a maestro out there orchestrating them. He really has uplifted that whole Phoenix team. Just how he talks, how he communicates with them out on the floor; you can tell that he just gives the entire team confidence.”

Although Paul was instrumental in the win, the rest of the Suns’ squad displayed impressive depth and balance. Each of their five starters scored at least 14 points and the team had four players with at least 20 points. “That’s what I’ve said all season long: We have a team. If you try to take one of us out or whatnot, we make the right play. Who you gonna leave open? Mikal Bridges is cash. Jae Crowder is cash. Cam Johnson. I could keep going on and on, and that’s the benefits of having a team,” said Paul.