NEW YORK (AP) — Mikal Bridges is being traded by the Brooklyn Nets to the New York Knicks, where he will join Jalen Brunson and his other former Villanova teammates, two people with knowledge of the details said Tuesday.

The first trade between the New York rivals since 1983 will put Bridges in the lineup alongside Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo, players who helped the Wildcats win two NCAA championships and were the core of a Knicks lineup that reached the Eastern Conference semifinals last season.

The Knicks will pay big to get him, with ESPN reporting that they are sending Bojan Bogdanovic to the Nets along with four unprotected first-round picks and one protected pick. The deal was confirmed to The Associated Press under condition of anonymity because it is not yet official.

The Nets acquired Bridges from Phoenix in the deal for Kevin Durant in February 2023 and he went on to average 26.1 points the rest of that season in helping Brooklyn reach the playoffs. The swingman scored 19.6 per game in 2023-24 but the Nets slipped to 32-50 and missed the postseason.

And while his team was struggling, he couldn’t help but notice how much fun his friends were having just a few miles away. The Knicks signed Brunson in the summer of 2022, traded for Hart in the 2022-23 season and then signed DiVincenzo last summer, and reached the second round in both seasons.

The four players helped Villanova win the 2016 NCAA title, and Brunson, Bridges and DiVincenzo were still there when the Wildcats won again in 2018.

They clearly can’t wait to get the band back together.

“This is crazy lol,” Bridges wrote on the social media platform X after the deal was reported.

Hart posted a picture of what appeared to be the four players smiling during a group video call.

The teams hadn’t made a deal since 1983, when the Nets were still in New Jersey and sent Len Elmore to New York for a future draft pick. This one gives Brooklyn more picks to build through the draft or package in further trades.

The Knicks had picks to move and have been looking to strengthen a team that has been on the rise. They were a game away from their first appearance in the Eastern Conference finals since 2000 last season despite losing a number of key players to injuries before and during the postseason.

Their new addition, on the other hand, doesn’t get hurt.

Bridges was the runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year in 2022 and is currently the NBA’s most durable player, which should quickly make him a favorite of Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau. He has played in all 474 games in his career — and never missed a game in college, either — and led the league in minutes played in both 2021-22 and 2022-23.

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This story has been corrected to reflect that Brunson signed with the Knicks in the summer of 2022, not the Nets.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Central Texas nonprofits just got more money to help their efforts increasing our workforce.

Twenty workforce skills training and job placement programs received more than $6.3 million in grant funding, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday.

The funding came via the Texas Talent Connection grant program, an initiative designed to aid “innovative education and workforce skills training programs that lead to successful job placement, increased wages, and improved job retention,” per the release.

Two of those programs are in the Austin area: American YouthWorks and Skillpoint Alliance.

‘Reach out to rural communities’

Skillpoint Alliance received $210,000 from the grant program.

Chief Executive Officer Kevin Brackmeyer said it will help them reach out to rural communities throughout all of the areas they serve.

Brackmeyer said they are setting up pop-up trainings in those rural places. He said the grant will also help expand the times they can train.

“Adding more training sites at night as well as during the day with a focus on specific populations,” Brackmeyer said “One being the veterans that we love to serve.”

Skillpoint Alliance Electrical Instructor Matthew Singer is a veteran himself.

“It’s hard to reach veterans,” Singer said. “Often, large populations are in Killeen and San Antonio. So we try to go to them and provide them an opportunity to transfer from the military into a trade.”

‘Serve more young people’

American YouthWorks is another Austin nonprofit receiving the Texas Talent Connection Grant Program.

“Typically, students are spending half their time in our academic programs, finishing their GED or high school diploma and half of their time in the pre-apprenticeship job training programs,” said YouthBuild Program Director David Clauss.

Clauss said their $350,000 will go towards YouthBuild, a program for young adults who haven’t finished high school.

“Our YouthBuild programs job training is focused around the Austin economy,” Class said. “We provide job training in healthcare, IT, manufacturing and construction in the skilled trades.”

With this additional support, Clauss said they’re able to support over 120 to 150 young people.

The nonprofit said 80% of YouthBuild grads go on to higher education or a job in the Austin economy.

YouthBuild participant Eloy Vasquez is planning for that in his future.

Collectively, more than $50 million in grants have been awarded through the state’s grant program since 2015.