A lot of eyebrows were raised when the Knicks gave up a chest of first-round picks to the Nets to acquire Mikal Bridges last summer.

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.

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.

For a fleeting moment considered the face of the Nets, Mikal Bridges is hoping for “good energy” as he returns to the Barclays Center on Tuesday for the first time since being traded across the Manhattan Bridge.