Mikal Bridges has played in more consecutive games than any other current NBA player, but critics might say the streak deserves an asterisk after the way it was kept alive on Sunday.
The New York Knicks were locked into the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference entering their regular-season finale against the Brooklyn Nets, so they decided to rest their starters. Bridges, however, was on the floor to start the game at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
That is because Bridges had started 555 consecutive games prior to Sunday, which is by far the longest active streak in the NBA. The veteran swingman made his 556th straight start on Sunday and intentionally committed a quick foul so he could be taken out of the game.
In total, Bridges played just 6 seconds.
Mikal Bridges started, committed a foul, and checked out after 6 seconds just so he could keep up his streak of games played 😭
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 13, 2025
He's currently at 556 👀 pic.twitter.com/zBHSSg1kT9
After his team’s 113-105 win, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said Bridges has “earned the right” to keep his streak alive with all the hard work he has put in. Bridges said he chose not to remain in the game because he wanted younger players to get more minutes.
“(The Knicks) just asked to see what I wanted to do, pretty much. It’s really for young guys,” Bridges said, via Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “Because I could play a quarter, play a half. But that would take away from young guys — [rookies Pacôme Dadiet and Kevin McCullar Jr.] — for their minutes to come up. Landry [Shamet] coming out there, playing more. … I took a lot of minutes all 81 prior, so just give them guys a chance, give them a chance to play.”
Bridges has kept his streak intact in similar fashion in the past. When he was with the Nets two years ago, he played just 4 seconds in the team’s regular-season finale.
These stunts are not exclusive to the NBA, of course. We saw one star quarterback do something very similar to keep his starts streak alive at the end of the last NFL season.
Bridges averaged 17.6 points, 3.7 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game in his first season with the Knicks. He will now look to make a significant impact in the postseason.
