When the New York Knicks traded five future first-round picks to the crosstown rival Brooklyn Nets for Mikal Bridges, the immediate reaction was mixed. Some fans and analysts were impressed with the addition, citing his ability from deep, his excellent screen navigation as an attacking point defender, and his endurance. Others thought it was overpaying for a player who had a down year in which both his shooting and defense regressed.

After 24 games, the trade remains an overpayment. And in a vacuum it will most likely stay that way.

It’s unwise to trade that many picks for anyone, let alone a player who hasn’t even made an All-Star Game yet and probably never will. But as Josh Hart alluded to a few weeks ago, if the Knicks eventually win a championship, no one will care and the trade will be worth it. And lately, Mikal Bridges has been doing more and more to help the Knicks get closer to that championship.

After a very ugly start that left the vast majority of Knicks fans very concerned, Bridges appears to have turned things around. He hasn’t yet become the best version of the player the Knicks and their fans were hoping for. The defense isn’t what it used to be in Phoenix, the three-point shots over the break are still inconsistent and the lack of creativity is a bit frustrating. But in his last seven games, Bridges is averaging 20 PPG, 3.1 R PG, 3 APG and 1.1 SPG while shooting 51.4% from the field and 42.9% from three.

If that sample is too small for you, take a look at his last 14 games, which cover more than half of the season so far. During that span, he averaged 18.1 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 3.4 APG and 0.9 SPG while shooting 48.1% from the field and 36.6% from three. And after scoring 19 or more points just twice in his first 10 games, he’s done so nine times in the last 14 games, and in that time he’s made at least three three-pointers in six games, including a 31-point game of one he made seven.

However, let’s not just look at the counting statistics and percentages. Remember when OG Anunoby was all about his historic plus/minus numbers upon his arrival? Well, so far this season it’s actually Bridges – and not Anunoby – who is the one leads the team in plus/minus with +163which is slightly above Anunoby’s +154.

Over the last 14 games, Bridges’ lead in this category is even more astounding. He’s at +177 over this stretch, while Karl-Anthony Towns is second at +125 and Anunoby is third at +91.

How about narrative criticism? Critics said he only played well at home. That was true at one point, but he had a 20-point game in Dallas on Nov. 27 and has 23 points on the road in Toronto.

How about the recent talk that surfaced about his inability to hit big shots that set the momentum of the game? Well, he scored a few goals in last night’s win over the Raptors. In the third quarter, he hit a three-pointer from the right corner to cut the lead to one.

He then hit a three-pointer over the break to tie the game with 10:14 left.

He then hit another three-pointer in the right corner, this time on the move, giving them a two-point lead with Jalen Brunson still on the bench.

And then he hit a huge three-pointer from the left corner to increase the lead to two with 1:37 left.

As someone who urged fans not to overreact in the first few weeks of the season, I have to preach the same thing about Bridges’ play lately, because that’s only fair.

I completely understand that the five first-round picks were still an overpayment and that he’s just a week and a half removed from an eight-point stinker against the Hornets and still has plenty of room to grow defensively. But he has improved significantly in the last month, and fans need to be as vocal about Bridges’ recent good play as he was about his poor early play.