If there was any player that could match Tom Thibodeau’s rigorous demands, it might just be Mikal Bridges.
The versatile star joins the Knicks — after a blockbuster trade from the Nets on Tuesday — as one of the few NBA players who has answered the bell in every game — 474 to be exact — during the season over the course of his pro career.
That includes playing 83 games in 2022-23 after he was dealt to the Nets as part of the trade that sent Kevin Durant to Phoenix.
He also played in all 116 games during his three years at Villanova.
And the 27-year-old is no stranger to heavy minutes during the course of the regular season.
Bridges averaged 34.8 minutes per game in his final season with the Nets, even taking issue when the team would try to limit his minutes.
In December, during a game against the Bucks, the Nets opted to rest some of their starters after a back-to-back, which upset Bridges.
“Didn’t like the choice and whatever that was,” Bridges told reporters at the time. “But it’s whatever. Definitely was not a fan.”
He later added that he “never” needed rest.
Over the course of Bridges’ six-year career, he has averaged 32.7 minutes per game.
He will need to keep that mindset now that he’s a member of the Nova Knicks — a collection of former Wildcats that have become Big Apple Stars at Madison Square Garden — and playing for a coach in Thibodeau who is known to push guys to their limits on playing time.
Thibodeau has become known for curing his coaching career.
Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart all averaged 33 minutes per game during the regular season.
While the Knicks players defended Thibodeau, a player poll conducted by The Athletic listed him as the “coach I’d least like to play for.”
“He’s playing every one 48 minutes,” one player said.