New York Knicks forward Mikal Bridges extended his streak of consecutive regular season games played on Sunday to 556.
Bridges has the longest active streak among current NBA players and currently ranks 14th in NBA history for most consecutive games played. That puts him 18 games behind Terry Tyler. If Bridges continues that streak and plays in all 82 games next season, he'll move ahead of six players and overtake Andre Miller at No. 8 with 638 games.
But when that streak is noted, and perhaps celebrated, it may be worth noting how Bridges kept it going at times. The Knicks had nothing to play for in Sunday's regular season finale versus the Brooklyn Nets, locked in as the No. 3 seed in the East and a matchup with the Detroit Pistons at No. 6.
Bridges opened the game in a starting lineup that included Cameron Payne, Miles McBride, P.J. Tucker and Precious Achiuwa. He was the only one of New York's usual starters on the court at tipoff. However, that lasted all of six seconds.
Mikal Bridges started, committed a foul, and checked out after 6 seconds just so he could keep up his streak of games played ðŸ˜
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 13, 2025
He's currently at 556 👀 pic.twitter.com/zBHSSg1kT9
After the Nets won the opening tip, Bridges fouled ballhandler Tyrese Martin and then checked out of the game. That was it for him and he went to the bench, taking several high-fives from teammates.
Mikal Bridges fouls the Nets seconds after the opening tip and takes a seat.
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) April 13, 2025
His games played streak stays alive, technically. pic.twitter.com/klOQSDTb1Q
It's not like Bridges didn't pull these shenanigans 555 previous times to build his consecutive games streak. If any NBA coach is going to make a player earn such a streak, it's Tom Thibodeau, who loves to ride his starters for heavy minutes. Bridges has averaged 37.5 minutes this season, playing a total of 3,306 minutes. Only teammate Josh Hart has averaged more — slightly at 37.6.
