Jalen Brunson: How Knicks Became 'Best Move' Over Mavericks in 2022 Free Agency
The $104 million that the New York Knicks promised to bestow to Jalen Brunson in the summer of 2022 seems far too low considering what he's been able to accomplish as the team's primary point guard since then.
A number like $55 million would've been a downright insult.
Brunson detailed his free agency saga on the Showtime basketball talk "All the Smoke," revealing that he envisioned a lengthier stay with the Dallas Mavericks, his original NBA employers that drafted him alongside franchise face Luka Doncic in 2018. Having served as a reliable reserve in his first three seasons (10.1 points, 3.3 assists), Brunson's top offer was a four-year, $55 million extension from the Mavericks, one that the Villanova alum was more than ready to sign.
USA TODAY SPORTS
"I wanted to stay there and I thought I would be there for a long time and I liked my role there," Brunson recalled to hosts and former NBAers Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson (h/t New York Basketball on X). "It's funny, because my agent was like 'you can do so much, you can get more, you can get more.' I'm just saying, I want to be safe. I'm not trying to gamble right now, this is not something you really gamble with if it's out there."
Brunson opted to play the first two months of the year as a relative lame duck, promising to check in at "around the 20, 25 (game) mark." Around that time, Brunson became a fixture in the team's starting five (thanks in part to a Doncic Injury): from Dec. 12 to the end of the 2021 calendar year, Brunson averaged 21 points and 7.4 assists in 10 appearances. He remained stationed in the opening lineup for the rest of the year.
With that in mind, Brunson went back to Mavericks management led by owner Mark Cuban, ready to accept the aforementioned offer. Cuban and Co. had other plans.
"We went back, we're like 'Hey, if the deal is there, we're thinking about it, like I'll do it, like right now,'" Brunson said. "Still, it was no. It wasn't a hard no, it was just like we want to see."
Brunson turned the tables on the Mavericks when offered him the same deal after the 2022 trade deadline, believing that he had "outgrown" such terms. He went on to serve as one of the most prominent faces of the Mavericks' unexpected run to the Western Conference Finals, which included an awe-inspiring 41-point effort sans Doncic in the opening round's second game against Utah.
Obviously, no happy ending was in store between Brunson and Cuban: the point guard said he felt assured after Cuban pledged the "most money" to Brunson in the aftermath of the conference final loss to Golden State but things took a dark turn.
"After (Cuban's interview), it was just crickets," Brunson said. "From my point of view, I can't speak (for) anyone else and my agents, but from my point of view, it was crickets."
The Knicks came swooping in with an expansive list of reasons to sign ... one of which was the contract that nearly doubled Dallas' offer.
"I saw New York making moves, and all that stuff ... close to home, two hours away, or an hour away from where I was born, parents live on the East Coast, whole family is on the East Coast," Brunson, born in New Brunswick, NJ, said. "So I started thinking like, this could be a real thing. So then here we are ... Best move."
Knicks fans couldn't agree more: since Brunson's arrival, their team has posted the eighth-best record in the NBA and earned a playoff series victory for the first time in a decade. Brunson himself has developed into one of the Association's premier talents and his efforts were rewarded with his first All-Star Game nomination over last weekend. With Brunson leading the way, the Knicks (33-22) currently sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
Brunson's next acts with the Knicks will be staged on Thursday when New York faces the Philadelphia 76ers on the road (7 p.m. ET, MSG).
