The highlight of the Brooklyn Nets' 2024 offseason was shipping Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks in exchange for major draft capital. Although still in New York City, Bridges finds himself across the bridge in Manhattan, and he is embracing a rivalry that extends past crosstown pride. Speaking of pride, head coach Jordi Fernandez signaled a key quality after Team Canada's Olympic run that will help Brooklyn move forward. Moreover, that improvement could be largely impacted by Dennis Schroder.
It has been a little over a month since Mikal Bridges was traded to the Knicks. However, he is wasting no time fueling one of New York's historic and rekindling rivalries. The Knicks lost the opportunity to advance to the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals at the hands of the Indiana Pacers. Indiana's star guard Tyrese Haliburton won a gold medal with Team USA in the 2024 Paris Olympics, and Bridges made a provoking comment under Haliburton's celebratory post, shown by the Knicks' X (formerly Twitter) page:
Mikal Bridges to Tyrese Haliburton on IG: “I hate this 🥷🏾 😭😭😭” pic.twitter.com/g5ugOeAF06
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) August 10, 2024
Mikal Bridges' "hate" for Haliburton getting a gold medal despite not playing significant minutes threw fire on the Knicks-Pacers feud. Nevertheless, Bridges and Haliburton are friendly with each other, so the comment likely will not be taken personally, until the playoffs that is.
It will only be a matter of time before Bridges engages in more friendly competition with his old running mates on the Nets.
Nets get crucial signals from Dennis Schroder, Jordi Fernandez
Dennis Schroder nearly helped Team Germany to a bronze finish in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Yet, his squad fell to Serbia 93-83 in the title game. Despite the tough loss, Schroder remains excited about his future with the Nets, telling Marc. J Spears of Andscape that he wants to remain in Brooklyn long-term ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Schroder desires to be a mentor to the squad's younger players, and he could be a valuable piece on a Nets team looking to regain competitiveness in the Eastern Conference.
Furthermore, Brooklyn is looking forward to having Jordi Fernandez at the helm of their on-the-court strategies in the Fall. Fernandez is coming off an Olympic head coaching stint with Team Canada. Canada finished in fifth place despite being expected to land on the podium, a letdown that Fernandez felt compelled to take ownership of.
“I will always support my players. Personally, I put this one on me because I should have helped them better,” Fernandez said after Canada's quarterfinal loss to France, via EuroHoops.net. “Better with two ball handlers. Better with getting better shots. Better with playing with better pace. And I couldn’t find a way. It starts with me, then we’ll come back strong.”
Now that his international run is over, Fernandez will refocus his efforts on preparing the Nets' young squad for a challenging year. Fernandez's accountability is a good sign that Brooklyn will be in good hands as the franchise enters a new era.