Mavs Losing Brunson to Knicks 'More Inexcusable' Than Nash in 2004, Says Bill Simmons
At the end of September last year, just three months after the Dallas Mavericks watched Jalen Brunson leave in free agency for a new opportunity with the New York Knicks, Mark Cuban spoke to TMZ about his biggest regret from his time as owner of the franchise.
"Probably letting Steve Nash go," said Cuban. "Yeah, I regret that. It's been almost 20 years now, and I still regret it."
Could losing Brunson potentially top the Nash mistake on Cuban's list? The Ringer's Bill Simmons thinks it could at some point, and he gave his extensive thoughts on this topic during the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast.
"Is this a 2004 [Steve] Nash-level mistake for you yet? That Dallas didn't keep [Jalen Brunson]? ... Because here's why I mention that. Obviously losing Nash for $60 million, there were some defensible pieces to that. He got his ass kicked in the playoff series that year. He had some back issues. I don't think anybody could've predicted the hand-check rules and all the things that moved into Nash's favor," Simmons said.
"At the same time, it was f------ stupid not to keep Steve Nash ... and they signed Erick Dampier, which is worse. This Brunson thing to me is more inexcusable, more indefensible, and stupider because they could've had him for four [years, $55 million] before the [2021-22] season. They could've had him for four for 55 in January during the season."
Simmons went on to quote Rick Brunson, Jalen's father, from an ESPN piece where he said the Mavs declined to offer his son that extension on multiple occasions.
"And Now I'm saying [Brunson] is going to be an All-Star in the East, and that Dallas is wasting this incredible Luka [Doncic] season where they have no second star basically. I think it's almost worse to waste the Luka season. As great as Dirk [Nowitzki] was, Luka, the ceiling for him is just higher. If [the Mavs] had Brunson, you would probably say they're the favorite in the West or co-favorite. So I don't think it's quite a Nash-level mistake, but I'm ready to have the conversation."
We'll never know 100 percent if Brunson truly would've accepted that contract extension offer in January 2022, because at that point, it was pretty clear that he had established himself as the Mavs' second-best player and was on his way to making more money. However, in our opinion, it's safe to say Brunson would've accepted the extension offer if it had been offered before then.
Luckily for the Mavericks, the heat from the Brunson situation hasn't been as hot due to the historic season Luka Doncic is having. Dallas currently sits at fourth in the West halfway through the season, which is much higher than where it sat this time last year. The lack of consistent help for Doncic has still been noticeable, though, and there are durability concerns going forward if he keeps having to carry such a large workload.
The more Brunson puts on big-time performances for the Knicks, and the more games the Mavs lose despite Doncic pouring in many points with little help – like when he scored 43 points in Dallas' 113-101 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night – the more Cuban is going to have to hear about how he potentially repeated what he himself coined as the biggest regret.
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