Mikal Bridges represents the present for the New York Knicks, who are competing in the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference and aspire to make a lengthy playoff run.

Mikal Bridges returns to Brooklyn on Tuesday for the first time since being traded. He played two seasons with the Nets.

Seven months after the blockbuster trade that sent him from the Brooklyn Nets to the New York Knicks, Mikal Bridges will return to Barclays Center on Tuesday. The Nets’ former top player expects a positive experience when he enters his former arena.

This version of Mikal Bridges looks nothing like the one Brooklyn traded away, but his revamped role could be the key to New York ascending in the East.