Mikal Bridges has been as much a part of the Knicks’ defensive problems as Karl-Anthony Towns

Despite coming off their best season in over a decade, the New York Knicks made the decision to shake up their roster in a major way over the offseason, acquiring Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns in separate deals. While those trades hurt their depth and cost them most of their future first-round draft picks, the Knicks had one of the best starting fives in the NBA on paper, and had legitimate NBA Championship aspirations.

The beginning of this new era in New York hasn't gone super smoothly. The Knicks have a 118.6 offensive rating through their first 11 games, good for fourth in the NBA, but their defense has lagged behind in a major way. Their 114.4 defensive rating is good for 20th in the NBA. That's the main reason why the Knicks enter Friday's game against the Brooklyn Nets with a record of 5-6.

The main reason why their defense has fallen off substantially to start the year is the newcomers, Towns and Bridges. Towns' defense has always been heavily scrutinized, and rightfully so, but Bridges has been as big of an issue if not more so.

The Knicks offensive rating has been elite whether Bridges is on the floor or not, but their defensive rating is something to behold. When Bridges is on the floor, that defensive rating is at 118.85. That'd be good for 29th in the NBA, only ahead of the 2-8 Washington Wizards. With Bridges off the floor, their defensive rating is 93.88. That'd be the best mark in the NBA by far. That's a problem.

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Mikal Bridges has not been the defender Knicks envisioned when acquiring him

Bridges' shooting has gotten off to a bit of a slow start as he's shot just 30.8 percent from three-point range entering Friday's action, but he's still averaging 15.6 points per game as New York's third option. He's been far from a liability on the offensive end, even if he hasn't lived up to the billing fully. His defense has been concerningly bad, though.

Towns struggling on that end of the court, especially as the team's primary rim protector with Mitchell Robinson sidelined due to injury, is not a surprise. Bridges struggling on the defensive end when he was once known as one of the best 3-and-D players in the league is shocking. Bridges finished as the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up in the 2021-22 season just three years ago.

Sure, Bridges' defense took a bit of a dip during his tenure with the Nets, but it was assumed that the biggest reason for that was because of the increased load he had offensively. Bridges went from a role player in Phoenix who specialized on the defensive end to being the No. 1 option offensively for much of his Nets tenure. Bridges was going to be a third or fourth option in New York offensively, so he'd theoretically have more energy to defend. Clearly, his defense has not bounced back.

By acquiring Bridges, the Knicks assumed they'd have two of the best wing defenders in the NBA, with OG Anunoby also in New York. Anunoby's defense has been strong as usual, but Bridges has been far from stellar. Will that change? Probably. We're 11 games into the season. Still, 11 games of this is enough of a sample size to have some concern. Even assuming Bridges does improve, it isn't looking like he's going to be the All-NBA-caliber defender that the Knicks expected to see. For the Knicks to seriously compete with the elite teams in the Eastern Conference, that's going to have to change.