Everyone knows Julius Erving is one of the best players to ever compete in the NBA, which is why he became one of the first Hall of Famers. Hiss opinion has always been valued inside the league, despite the fact that he isn’t as outspoken as many of his peers, so when he does talk, the basketball world listens.
In a recent appearance at The Mark Jackson Show, the sport legend revealed how is his favourite current player in the NBA. After admitting that Kawhi Leonard used to be his preferred option, now he’s decided to chose a Knicks player.
“Kawhi was my guy… Then this load management stuff happened…” Erving started out during the interview. “Mikal Bridges is my guy now. Imma go with Bridges to have a comeback year… He kind of established himself, never missed games.”
Julius Erving Picks Mikal Bridges as His Favorite Player
Basketball legend Julius Erving shared his admiration for Mikal Bridges, calling him his favorite current player after previously liking Kawhi Leonard. In an interview on The Mark Jackson Show, Erving praised Bridges for… pic.twitter.com/4x6HbHy1RJ
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After being traded over the summer, Mikal is currently in his first campaign with New York, after getting traded by the Nets. The former Villanova star is averaging 17.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.1 steals per contest while shooting 48.9% from the field and 33.2% from the three-point range in 40 matches.
Mikal was the 10th pick of the 2018 NBA Draft, and he’s spent his professional career playing for both Brooklyn and the Phoenix Suns, where he helped reach the NBA Finals in 2021.
Knicks fan will enjoy the fact that the franchise icon sees so much potential in the 28-year-old player, as they are currently sitting in the Eastern Conference’s third spot with a 26-14 mark, after 40 games.
New York fans recently booed Bridges after he wasn’t able to score a single point last week when they lost to Oklahoma City
Last Friday, the guard went scoreless on 0-of-9 shooting, including 0-for-7 from beyond the arc. This occurred right after a game in which he dropped in just 10 points (on 4-of-18 shooting) in Wednesday’s victory against the Raptors. After their loss against the Thunder over the weekend, Mikal was honest with his assessment.
“I gotta make [shots],” Bridges admitted with his head down. “I’ve been short on a lot of them probably these past couple of games, so I just gotta put a little more lift on it … just put more legs in it.”
The 28-year-old recognized that the squad losses their intensity when the shots aren’t dropping in. “We have that throughout the season sometimes not scoring kind of messes up our energy,” he said. “We can’t be that team. We can’t be a team where you make shots and everything is going good.”
