PHOENIX — Another former Phoenix Suns player who was previously dealt to the Brooklyn Nets will reportedly be included in the Mikal Bridges trade to the New York Knicks.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Keita Bates-Diop, who signed a two-year veteran minimum deal with Phoenix last summer and was part of the package the Suns used to acquire Royce O’Neale on Feb. 8, will be heading to New York with Bridges, according to The Athletic‘s Shams Charania.
Charania reported on X:
“Sources: The Knicks are signing-and-trading Shake Milton as part of Mikal Bridges/Bojan Bogdanovic trade to the Nets, who will also send Keita Bates-Diop to New York. Milton will sign a three-year, $9 million contract, with over minimum in year one and two non-guaranteed years.”
Sources: The Knicks are signing-and-trading Shake Milton as part of Mikal Bridges/Bojan Bogdanovic trade to the Nets, who will also send Keita Bates-Diop to New York. Milton will sign a three-year, $9 million contract, with over minimum in year one and two non-guaranteed years.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 4, 2024
The terms of the deal have not been finalized yet. When it was reported the trade was going down, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that “The Knicks are sending four unprotected picks (2025, 2027, 2029, 2031) a 2025 protected Milwaukee first, a 2028 unprotected pick swap and a 2025 second-round pick for Mikal Bridges and a 2026 second-round pick, sources tell ESPN.”
So now, two more players, Bates-Diop and Milton, get included in trade, one on each side, on top of Bridges, Bogdanovic and the eight combined picks that were reported previously.
Bates-Diop never materialized in Phoenix after averaging a career-high 9.7 points and shooting 39.4% from 3 in the 2022-23 season with the San Antonio Spurs.
The 6-foot-8 forward appeared in 39 games (eight starts) for the Suns, averaging 4.5 points, while shooting 42.7% from the field and 31.3% from 3 in 15.3 minutes per game. When he was traded to Brooklyn, these numbers went down even more, as Bates-Diop was buried on a depth chart filled with forwards and only averaged 1.6 points in 4.9 minutes across 14 games.
Bates-Diop exercised his $2.65 million player option for the 2024-25 season with Brooklyn last month.
Now, the 28 year old will try to carve out a role on a Knicks team that should be one of the best in the Eastern Conference.
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
