“The great KG said this, ‘This is when you know you have made it: When you’re able to go out there and get you 30 and get somebody else alongside you 15 and 10.’” — Kendrick Perkins

With even Mikal Bridges admitting a blockbuster trade for Damian Lillard is unlikely for the Nets, Bridges going to be their unquestioned leader this upcoming season.

But part of being the Nets’ best player is making others better.

The centerpiece of the Nets’ rebuild in the post-Kevin Durant/Kyrie Irving era, Bridges has blossomed as a lead scorer who exceeded all reasonable expectations.

But both Bridges and head coach Jacque Vaughn acknowledge the next step in the young wing’s development is being more than just a bucket-getter. It’s getting buckets for others.

“Has Mikal been able to improve as a player? Yes. On both ends of the floor? Yes. Can he still get better? Yes,” Vaughn said at the end of last season. “There’s some things he’s doing more than he’s previously done, which is improvement. We want to continue to see his improvement.”

It’s a topic that Vaughn has broached with Bridges, and the 26-year-old was eager to hear it. But how will it get done?

NBA players often say it’s difficult to make huge improvement during the grind of the season and that their strides truly are made over the summer.

But how does a player level up his playmaking in the offseason away from teammates? With designed drills executed alongside a trainer, or is it limited to live pickup games? Or is it a matter of adjusting his mindset?

Bridges says it’s all of the above.

“Yeah, you could do [drills] … but it’s more of a mindset, and having that mindset coming in and watching film,” Bridges told Sports+. “That’s the biggest thing, to have that mindset of playmaking.

“Me coming off the screen, you want to go score. Yeah, you have that option, but also have everybody else. If everybody eats, that’s the best thing — everybody has a rhythm, and it’s tough to guard. So just watching film and just learning and getting ready for the offensive stuff.

“[When] I got there, our offense was a little tough to pass just because of how it was set up, because they had KD and Kyrie. [They] were the most unbelievable scorers in the world, so the offense was ran like that. So being put in there, I felt like I was liable to shoot a lot. But I’m very, very willing to pass and be a playmaker, and that’s as someone where I’d rather have a 25, 10 and 10 game than a 30-something and four assists.

“I’m happy that was one of the things that [Vaughn] talked about, because for me when I go into games, I feel me scoring a lot and I also feel like I watch games and I feel like I’m missing people as well. I was just a 3-and-D guy about six, eight months ago. I know how that feels being open and maybe not getting it. So I know how ready I was at that moment for a catch-and-shoot. I know everybody else that’s in that position — like [Dorian Finney-Smith] or somebody — I know they’re ready. So just to make them happy, man, and once everybody’s happy, everybody’s having fun out there.”

Just over six months ago, Bridges was a 3-and-D player for the Suns, averaging 17.2 points — by far a career high, up from the prior season’s 14.2 points. Few could have foreseen what the next couple of months would bring.

After arriving in Brooklyn in the Durant trade, Bridges poured in 26.1 points and 4.5 rebounds with solid defense and 47.5/37.6/89.4 shooting splits. Discounting his four-second cameo in the meaningless regular-season finale to keep his consecutive games played streak intact, he averaged a gaudy 27.2 points per game for the Nets.

The one thing missing was shot creation.

“Just overall his ability to handle the basketball is the next thing for him,” Vaughn said. “In a lineup, could he be out there and handle by himself, just with other wing players around him? His ability to play pick-and-roll even more and be a distributor for us.

“Because he’s just going to gain so much attention now these days, can he be a decoy at times? And learning when to be a decoy and how to use that for the benefit of his teammates. So there’s a lot still that he can learn, for sure.”

It’s a lesson so many established All-Stars have learned: how to use their gravity to warp defenses.

Garnett — a former Net — had six straight seasons averaging at least five assists and 10 in a row averaging at least four.

Of the 27 players who averaged at least 24 points this past season, 17 of them added at least five assists and all but three were contributing at least four assists per game: Lakers center Anthony Davis, Jazz power forward Lauri Markkanen and Celtics wing Jaylen Brown.

Bridges, aiming for his first All-Star bid, averaged a modest 3.3 assists for the season, including just 2.7 in 27 games for Brooklyn. That’s why this season will bring a tweaks to his mentality and to his team’s system.

Dropped into the Nets’ system midseason, Bridges got put into many of the same plays and actions the team had tailored for Durant.

Bridges admitted Durant was more able to create out of those looks — he drew more blitzes and recognized them more quickly — but said he’s looking forward to adjustments for the upcoming season.

“Yeah, because when you put Kev in a situation, he’s Kevin Durant, so it’s a little bit easier for him to make passes because they’re going to be…they don’t want him to score,” “For sure,” Bridges told Sports+. “So me and [Nic] Claxton had that … conversation because he was talking about Kev used to always find him this and that.

“And just a progression of like, ‘Yeah, if I keep scoring here and keep doing that, that’s going to make the defense have to put two on a ball. And then off the rip, they’re coming in. First game of the season, teams are like, ‘Don’t let him score, don’t let KD score,’ and it makes him be able to create. But a guy like me coming in, they’re just going to be in the drop and make him shoot that s–t every single time.

“But just trying to evolve from that and make defenses honest. So now I can make that every time. Now they’ve got to step up, and then now I’ll find him.”

Shot creation is a major problem for the Nets. After the trade deadline, Spencer Dinwiddie led the team in assists with 9.2 per game; the next highest was Royce O’Neale at 3.1 (discounting a one-game cameo from RaiQuan Gray in the season finale).

Ben Simmons — who has a chance to play alongside Dinwiddie or earn the starting point guard spot — averaged just three assists in three post-deadline appearances.

Bridges showing he can be a secondary playmaker would be game-changing.

Bridges has passing ability. He had 21 points, nine rebounds and a career-high nine assists for the Suns in a Nov. 11 win over the Warriors that impressed Steve Kerr enough that he approached Bridges after the game about playing for Team USA.

Then Bridges had 28 points and another nine assists in a Jan. 19 win over the Nets, who traded for him roughly three weeks later.

“I’m just trying to win, bro. That’s the thing. You can have 30 all you want, but [if] you lose, that s–t is an empty stat, people don’t really talk about it,” Bridges said recently on “Podcast P with Paul George.”

“That’s just my mindset coming from college [at Villanova] and always winning and just being how I was raised. That’s how I feel. I don’t want to come out and have 30 and lose. Nobody talks about that 40 [if] you lose. No. If you have 40 and you win, that s–t is going to be talked about for f–king weeks. I don’t want to be a guy that just has 30 all the time. I want triple doubles.

“And I [hang] with my teammates so much. Those are my guys. I want everybody to eat. So I want to still control the game, but make sure everybody feel happy. Because I know playing off-ball, being that role guy, when [Devin Booker] and them find me, I’m the happiest [guy] in the world. So I know when I find my boy Doe or somebody in a corner, they’re happy. So I just have that role player mentality. Every time in that corner, I’m ready every single time, so I know my other guys that are in that position right now, I know they’re ready to definitely get there.

“And hopefully the offense this year can be more [balanced], emphasize [that] more.”

If they can, maybe Bridges can make it like Garnett said.