Official: Jalen Brunson Signs with Knicks; No Sign & Trade for Mavs
After an unusually long wait, the New York Knicks announced on Tuesday that they have officially signed Jalen Brunson a four-year contract in excess of $100 million. Brunson will wear No. 11 for his new team.
Leading up to this announcement, there was increased speculation about the possibility of a sign-and-trade involving the Mavericks, but ultimately, Dallas lost Brunson for nothing … not even a Traded Player Exception (T.P.E.).
According to a report, the Mavs did meet with Knicks’ management manager in Las Vegas to discuss the possibility of a sign-and-trade, but the sides weren’t able to come to an agreement. The Mavs and their fan base can finally move on and put this saga to rest.
The Knicks and Pistons completed a trade involving Kemba Walker last week. In a separate trade, New York also agreed to send Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel to Detroit. These moved helped the Knicks sign Brunson with cap space only while not needing any sign-and-trade help from the Mavs.
The Mavericks would’ve benefited from participating in a sign-and-trade since they would’ve created a projected $12.0 million trade exception (TPE). Dallas would’ve been able to use that TPE to acquire a player whose salary fits within that threshold without having to send out contracts of their own in a deal.
Earlier this offseason, the Mavericks allowed their near $10.9 million TPE to expire, so there’s always the chance that it might have never been used anyway. That one was created by the Josh Richardson trade with the Boston Celtics. It's common for trade exceptions to ultimately go unused by NBA teams.
The Mavericks have already made plenty of personnel changes in the wake of Brunson's departure. They acquired Christian Wood in a trade with the Houston Rockets early in the offseason. They have acquired the No. 37 overall pick in the NBA Draft to select Jaden Hardy. They used the taxpayer MLE to sign JaVale McGee.
In terms of replacing Brunson, the Mavericks plan to start Spencer Dinwiddie in the backcourt next to Luka Doncic. Dallas made the trade to send Kristaps Porzingis to the Washington Wizards partly because adding Dinwiddie offered "Brunson insurance."
You can follow Grant Afseth on Twitter at @GrantAfseth.
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