New York Knicks star forward Mikal Bridges made an odd request to his head coach, Tom Thibodeau.
Bridges told Thibodeau to 'back off' a bit in the starters' minutes because the bench deserves more.
Stefan Bondy of the New York Post shared in his column on Wednesday.
"Sometimes it's not fun on the body," Bridges said. "You'll want that as a coach but also talked to him a little bit knowing that we've got a good enough team where our bench guys can come in and we don't need to play 48 (minutes), 47.
"We've got a lot of good guys on this team that can take away minutes. Which helps the defense, helps the offense, helps tired bodies being out there and giving up all these points. It helps just keeping fresh bodies out there."
Thibodeau's coaching style has a reputation. His style is known for high expectations, demanding player workloads, and focusing on the defensive end.
Bridges has played in every single game of his career-he has never missed a game, and that's quite remarkable. Still, to do that, he needs some rest in-game from time to time, and he feels that he is not getting that.
Bridges also noted that Thibodeau was open to the idea, but he admitted that he may sometimes get in his own way.
"I think he's not arguing about it. Sometimes I think he just gets in his ways and he gets locked in. He just wants to keep the guy out there," Bridges said. "Sometimes you've got to tell him, like Landry (Shamet), for example, or somebody, keep him out there, they're playing well."
Bridges is averaging a career-high in minutes played with 37.8 minutes of action. His previous career high was 35.7 minutes in the 2022-23 season with the Phoenix Suns and the Brooklyn Nets.
Thibodeau is known for running his players to the ground. The most common example is how he pushed former Bulls star Derrick Rose. Because of that, Rose suffered many key injuries during his time with the Bulls that ultimately derailed his career.
Bridges' career has been healthy for all of it, and he wants to make sure that remains the case. The 28-year-old is in his first season with the Knicks averaging 17.4 points per game, 3.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 0.9 steals while shooting 48.2 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from three in 64 games.
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This story was originally published March 12, 2025 at 2:08 PM.