Mikal Bridges of the New York Knicks made headlines and raised eyebrows when he revealed to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post that he'd asked head coach Tom Thibodeau to lighten the minutes load on the team's starters.

If there's one thing we know about a Tom Thibodeau-coached team it's that he's going to play his starters a ton of minutes. He's been known to run with short rotations, relying heavily upon his starters to the point where there tends to be criticism about overworking his stars.

That hasn't changed during the 2024-25 season. The current NBA leaders in minutes per game are Knicks guard Josh Hart and forward Mikal Bridges, both of whom average 37.8 minutes per game. OG Anunoby ranks sixth in the league at 36.6 minutes per contest.

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If any New York Knick has earned some PTO, it's Mikal Bridges, and it sounds like he's angling to use it. The NBA's active iron man called for the Knicks' reserves to get their on-floor due in a report from Stefan Bondy of the New York Post,

Bridges told reporters in Portland ahead of tipoff against the Trail Blazers on Wednesday he asked Tom Thibodeau to reduce the Knicks starters’ minutes, citing a bench he believes can help the team win games if trusted with a greater workload.

Tom Thibodeau challenging a call up 24 at 9:40pm because why not? - 12:40 AM

As the New York Knicks navigate the final stretch of the NBA regular season, swingman Mikal Bridges has approached head coach Tom Thibodeau with a request to scale back the heavy minutes typically assigned to starters.