Mikal Bridges is the NBA’s most efficient player in transition.
It’s been one of the quieter revelations of a season full of them as the Knicks have embraced Mike Brown’s run-and-gun philosophy in his first year at Madison Square Garden. Bridges, quite literally, is leading the pack in fast-break efficiency, thriving in a system designed to push the pace off makes and misses alike.
“The system is made for him. It’s perfect. It’s perfect for him, so he’s just maximizing what he does best to help us win,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “And transition is one of those things I think all of us in this locker room knew he could be special there. It makes us an even better team and gives us a chance to win every single night.”
Bridges is one of 29 NBA players — and the only Knick — averaging at least five transition points per game. Among that group, he’s been the most efficient, posting a 78.1 effective field-goal percentage in transition, a metric that gives added weight to made three-pointers. If it holds, Bridges would have the highest effective field goal percentage (eFG%) in transition since the NBA began tracking transition stats in the 2015-16 season. The mark is currently held by 2016 LeBron James (75.7 eFG%) with Kevin Durant (75.3 eFG%) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (73.6% eFG) close seconds in 2025.
“I thought he was great. He got the transition threes to go and that’s really hard to stop,” Towns said after Sunday’s win over Miami. “So good job by us pushing the pace and getting it to him in his spot and him running in a spot that gave him a chance to shoot that ball. He puts the work in so we all expected him to make it.”
Bridges is shooting 67% from the field overall in transition opportunities, the fourth-best mark in the league behind Antetokounmpo and Orlando wings Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. He shot 6-of-7 from three-point range in the Knicks’ 132-125 victory over the Heat.
Three of those makes came before Miami’s defense could get set — the NBA’s official classification for a running jump shot.
Bridges is 9-of-17 (52.9%) on running three-point attempts this season. Wagner, for comparison, is 3-of-7 (42.9%), while Chicago’s Josh Giddey is 7-of-9 (77.8%) but on significantly lower volume.
The other league leaders in transition effective field goal percentage don’t stack up: San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama has a 74.4 effective field goal percentage against Bridges’ mark of 78.1, but the 7-4 French phenom is only three-of-six on the season on running three-point jumpers. Giannis is shooting 74% in transition but has not attempted a running jump shot this season, and Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards is only three-of-five on the season on transition threes.
“I think it’s just timing, knowing when a guy’s about to pass and kinda getting your feet right,” Bridges said after the win. “But I’ve been doing this since college, the kind of stuff we’ve been working on [here], and I’ve always been big on running in transition, knowing when to get the one-two [feet] down and rhythm up [into the shot].”
The running three-point boon is part of a breakout season for Bridges, who is quietly having an All-Star season with 17 points per game on 52.9% shooting from the field and 43% from three complimenting a strong defensive start to the season under Brown’s coaching lead. Bridges’ scoring is slightly down from last year under Tom Thibodeau, but his shot profile has shifted: three-pointers account for five percentage points more of his field goal attempts this season — roughly one extra three-point attempt for every 20 shots he takes.
Brown’s offense has optimized one of New York’s biggest investments, and in Year 2 of Bridges’ Knicks tenure, the returns are starting to show up across the box score. He’s averaging a career-high 4.3 assists per game, many of them coming in that same gray area between offense and defense where Bridges has become most dangerous.
“I think being able to shoot it off the catch or off the run and being able to put it down and try to play-make — and I think my teammates are playing the right way and finding everybody, including myself,” Bridges said. “I think we’ve got a lot of good basketball players that make the right read out in transition.”
