NEW YORK (AP) — Mikal Bridges had another short night to extend the NBA's longest active streak of consecutive games played, logging 23 seconds in the New York Knicks' loss to Charlotte on Sunday.
That made it 638 consecutive games for Bridges, who has never missed one in his pro career. He recently moved past Andre Miller for the eighth-longest streak in NBA history.
Bridges said he doesn't go into a season feeling that he has to play 82 games, but just doesn't like to miss any.
“I think I just try to pray for good health and do whatever it takes to be healthy and just try to be out there,” he said.
Bridges was the only Knicks starter to play with the team locked into the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. Coach Mike Brown said he would only allow the guard to play long enough to extend the streak, and reserve Jordan Clarkson was already walking to the scorer's table to replace him even before the opening jump ball.
The Knicks won the tip and had the first possession. As soon as they ran back on defense, Bridges committed a foul to stop play and he was removed.
Five NBA players had streaks of more than 700 games, led by A.C. Green’s 1,192.
“It’s crazy because load management is a real term,” Brown said before the game. “And that’s something that’s thought of by everybody, not just the medical performance group but by coaches, by individual players, by agents, by family members, and people get pushed to take time off for whatever reason. And so for a guy like that to be at the number he’s at in consecutive games played speaks volumes.”
The NBA Cup final that the Knicks won doesn’t count in the statistics, otherwise Bridges would have been credited with playing 83 games in an 82-game season for the second time in four years. He played 56 games with Phoenix in 2022-23 before he was dealt to Brooklyn in the trade for Kevin Durant, then appeared in all of the Nets’ final 27 games.
He extended the streak at the end of that season by playing four seconds in the regular-season finale, and played six seconds in the final game of the 2024-25 season.
There were 18 players who went into the final day of the regular season having played every game. Charlotte's Sion James also appeared in his 82nd game Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
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From left to right, New York Knicks' Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges watch an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets from the bench during the second half Sunday, April 12, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian voters on Sunday ousted long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orbán after 16 years in power, rejecting the authoritarian policies and global far-right movement that he embodied in favor of a pro-European challenger in a bombshell election result with global repercussions.
It was a stunning blow for Orbán — a close ally of both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin — who quickly conceded defeat after what he called a ″painful″ election result. U.S. Vice President JD Vance had made a visit to Hungary just days earlier, meant to help push Orbán over the finish line.
Election victor Péter Magyar, a former Orbán loyalist who campaigned against corruption and on everyday issues like health care and public transport, has pledged to rebuild Hungary's relationships with the European Union and NATO — ties that frayed under Orbán. European leaders quickly congratulated Magyar.
His victory was expected to transform political dynamics within the EU, where Orbán had upended the bloc by frequently vetoing key decisions, prompting concerns he sought to break it up from the inside.
It will also reverberate among far-right movements around the world, which have viewed Orbán as a beacon for how nationalist populism can be used to wage culture wars and leverage state power to undermine opponents.
It's not yet clear whether Magyar’s Tisza party will have the two-thirds majority in parliament, which would give it the numbers needed for major changes in legislation. With 93% of the vote counted, it had more than 53% support to 37% for Orbán’s governing Fidesz party and looked set to win 94 of Hungary's 106 voting districts.
“I congratulated the victorious party,″ Orban told followers. “We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition.″
In a speech to tens of thousands of jubilant supporters at a victory party along the Danube River, Magyar said his voters had rewritten Hungarian history.
“Tonight, truth prevailed over lies. Today, we won because Hungarians didn’t ask what their homeland could do for them — they asked what they could do for their homeland. You found the answer. And you followed through,” he said.
On the streets of Budapest, drivers blared car horns and cranked up anti-government songs while people marching in the streets chanted and screamed.
Many revelers chanted “Ruszkik haza!” or “Russians go home!” — a phrase used widely during Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet revolution, and which had gained increasing currency amid Orbán’s drift toward Moscow.
Turnout in the election was nearly 80%, according to the National Election Office, a record number in any vote in Hungary’s post-Communist history.
Orbán, the EU’s longest-serving leader and one of its biggest antagonists, traveled a long road from his early days as a liberal, anti-Soviet firebrand to the Russia-friendly nationalist admired today by the global far-right.
The EU will be waiting to see how Magyar changes Hungary's approach to Ukraine. Orbán repeatedly frustrated EU efforts to support the neighboring country in its war against Russia’s full-scale invasion, while cultivating close ties to Putin and refusing to end Hungary’s dependence on Russian energy imports.
Recent revelations have shown a top member of Orbán's government frequently shared the contents of EU discussions with Moscow, raising accusations that Hungary was acting on Russia’s behalf within the bloc.
Members of Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement are among those who see Orbán's government and his Fidesz political party as shining examples of conservative, anti-globalist politics in action, while he is reviled by advocates of liberal democracy and the rule of law.
In Budapest, Marcell Mehringer, 21, said he was voting “primarily so that Hungary will finally be a so-called European country, and so that young people, and really everyone, will do their fundamental civic duty to unite this nation a bit and to breakdown these boundaries borne of hatred.”
During his 16 years as prime minister, Orbán launched harsh crackdowns on minority rights and media freedoms, subverted many of Hungary's institutions and been accused of siphoning large sums of money into the coffers of his allied business elite, an allegation he denies.
He also heavily strained Hungary's relationship with the EU. Although Hungary is one of the smaller EU countries, with a population of 9.5 million, Orbán has repeatedly used his veto to block decisions that require unanimity.
Most recently, he blocked a 90-billion euro ($104 billion) EU loan to Ukraine, prompting his partners to accuse him of hijacking the critical aid.
Magyar, 45, rapidly rose to become Orbán's most serious challenger.
A former insider within Orbán's Fidesz, Magyar broke with the party in 2024 and quickly formed Tisza. Since then, he has toured Hungary relentlessly, holding rallies in settlements big and small in a campaign blitz that recently had him visiting up to six towns daily.
In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month, Magyar said the election will be a “referendum” on whether Hungary continues on its drift toward Russia under Orbán, or can retake its place among the democratic societies of Europe.
Tisza is a member of the European People's Party, the mainstream, center-right political family with leaders governing 12 of the EU's 27 nations.
Magyar faced a tough fight. Orbán's control of Hungary's public media, which he has transformed into a mouthpiece for his party, and vast swaths of the private media market give him an advantage in spreading his message.
The unilateral transformation of Hungary's electoral system and gerrymandering of its 106 voting districts by Fidesz also required Tisza to gain an estimated 5% more votes than Orbán’s party to achieve a simple majority.
Additionally, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Hungarians in neighboring countries had the right to vote in Hungarian elections and traditionally have voted overwhelmingly for Orbán's party.
Russian secret services have plotted to interfere and tip the election in Orbán's favor, according to numerous media reports including by The Washington Post. The prime minister, however, accused neighboring Ukraine, as well as Hungary's allies in the EU, of seeking to interfere in the vote to install a “pro-Ukraine” government.
Associated Press journalists Béla Szandelszky, Marko Drobnjakovic, Ivan L. Nagy, Florent Bajrami in Budapest, Hungary, and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
A man waves a Hungarian flag as he celebrates in the streets after the announcement of partial results of the Hungarian parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Supporters of Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party celebrate after a parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, center, addresses after a parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party waves a national flag after a parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Supporters of Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party celebrate after a parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
A man waves a Hungarian flag as he celebrates in the streets after the announcement of partial results of the Hungarian parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Supporters of Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party celebrates after a parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, center, flanked by his team reacts after a parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Peter Magyar, leader of the opposition Tisza party, speaks to the media after polls closed, during the Hungarian parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
A woman takes ballots at a polling station during the Hungarian parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
A woman casts her ballot at a polling station during the Hungarian parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the junior ruling Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) Zsolt Semjen and his wife Gabriella Semjenne Menus cast their ballots during an election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (Zsolt Szigetvary/MTI via AP)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban prepares to cast his ballot at a polling station in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban addresses the media outside a polling station after voting in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Peter Magyar, leader of the opposition Tisza party, speaks to the media outside a polling station in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Peter Magyar, leader of the opposition Tisza party, casts his ballot at a polling station in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban casts his vote in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Officially sealed ballot boxes are seen at a local polling station during an election in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (Tamas Vasvari/MTI via AP)
A man casts his ballot at a polling station in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
A man prepares to cast his ballot at a polling station in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Supporters of Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party hold up their lit phones during a final election rally in Debrecen, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Supporters of Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party hold up their lit phones during a final election rally in Debrecen, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party attends a rally in Debrecen, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Supporters attend electoral campaign closing rally of Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the governing Fidesz in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban attends the electoral campaign closing rally of the governing Fidesz in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
