Eighty-two. Seventy-three. Seventy-two. Eighty-two. Eighty-three. Eighty-two. Eighty-two — and now 29.
Mikal Bridges’ track record of perfect attendance reads like an NBA head coach’s fantasy.
Mike Brown is living that fantasy in real time during his first season at Madison Square Garden, guiding a Knicks team with championship aspirations. Bridges isn’t just a premier two-way wing capable of locking down the league’s best scorers one night and detonating offensively the next.
He’s also the league’s reigning, uncontested ironman. If there’s any certainty to the Knicks’ season this year, it’s Bridges suiting up for tipoff every night.
And in a league increasingly shaped by load management and star absences, Bridges’ availability has become its own competitive advantage — one you can’t quite put a price on (though the Knicks might argue otherwise after surrendering five first-round picks to acquire him from Brooklyn, then signing him to a four-year, $150 million extension this summer).
“The best ability is availability, and to have that is a big thing,” Brown said after practice in Tarrytown earlier this month, just before the team boarded its flight to Las Vegas for the NBA Cup semifinal. “And anybody — everybody — would love to have that.”
Bridges is the only current player to appear in 500 consecutive games, with 600 looming. He and Golden State’s Buddy Hield are the only active players who haven’t missed a game over the past five seasons. And in 2023, after a midseason trade from Phoenix to Brooklyn created an extra contest on his schedule, Bridges became the first player since Josh Smith in 2014-15 to appear in 83 regular-season games.
On Christmas Day against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Bridges will move into 11th place all-time in consecutive games played, surpassing James Donaldson’s mark of 586 set in 1981. He can pass Jack Twyman and John Stockton (tied for ninth at 609) as soon as January, and overtake Andre Miller’s 632-game streak to stand alone in eighth place by season’s end.
“He takes care of his body. He does a great job taking care of his body,” Brown said. “I don’t know what his sleep patterns are like, but I know that he works extremely hard with his preparation. And when you work as hard as he does with your preparation, usually good things happen. And then probably got good genes. So thanks mama.”
Bridges hasn’t missed a game since high school. He played 116 straight at Villanova, where Jalen Brunson first saw the lengths his teammate would go to just to be available.
Now reunited in New York, Brunson says nothing has changed.
“He takes care of his body. He works tremendously hard,” Brunson said. “He’s a psychopath when it comes to his craft. So he’s really locked in with everything he needs to do to make sure he’s ready. And that’s just who he’s been since I’ve met him.”
A psychopath?
“That’s not my story to tell,” Brunson said with a grin. “But he’s a lunatic for sure.”
Bridges owned the label moments later.
“Maybe a little bit of a psychopath, but nothing crazy,” he said. “Just trying to take care of it every single day. Try to stay up on it.”
What might read as lunacy from the outside has become ritual for the NBA’s longest-standing ironman.
“I take advantage of the cold tubs, always get a massage before the game, the stretcher routine and everything,” Bridges said. “I think it’s just being consistent with it. It’s a long season with a lot of emotions going on. People tend to stop doing all the things. I just try to be consistent all the time and continue to do all the things that are going to get me prepared for the game.”
Bridges isn’t chasing records. But if he finishes this season with perfect attendance once again, he’ll reach 638 consecutive games played. To catch A.C. Green’s untouchable NBA record of 1,192 straight appearances, Bridges would need 555 more — roughly seven additional seasons.
That would take him to age 37. A lot of basketball to play. A lot of mileage to accrue. But maybe not quite an impossible feat for the basketball psychopath on the loose at The Garden this season.
