Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau asked to meet with Mikal Bridges before Wednesday’s overtime win against the Trail Blazers, looking to clear the air over the small forward’s comments regarding starters’ minutes, sources familiar with the situation told SNY’s Ian Begley.
Sources described the meeting as “productive.”
Bridges is averaging a career-high 37.8 minutes per night in his first season since being acquired from the Nets.
He is one of three Knicks who currently sit in the top-10 in the league in total minutes on the year with Jalen Brunson (2,162; 10th) and Josh Hart (2,307; 2nd) joining him.
The 28-year-old argued that giving the bench unit more playing time could help keep them fresh.
“Sometimes it’s not fun on the body,” he told Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “We’ve got a lot of good guys on this team that can take away minutes. Which helps the defense, helps the offense, helps tired bodies being out there and giving up all these points. It helps just keeping fresh bodies out there.”
The head coach countered that a conversation with Bridges did not take place and defended his minutes distribution.
“We never had a conversation about it,” Thibodeau said. “The facts are the facts. When you look at our team, and the way it works, Jalen plays 35 minutes, and I think he’s 20th or 21st in average minutes played. [Karl-Anthony Towns], who is a primary scorer, plays less than Jalen. He’s like 25th in the league in average minutes.”
MSG Network’s Mike Breen first noted on Wednesday night’s broadcast that the two had talked before the game, and cameras caught the two chatting during the matchup.
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