Mavs' Mark Cuban believes Knicks weren't punished enough for Jalen Brunson signing

It's been three years since Jalen Brunson left the Dallas Mavericks to sign with the New York Knicks, where his father was an assistant coach. Dallas had every chance to re-sign Brunson before he became an unrestricted free agent, but they sat on their hands, and negotiations fell apart quickly once they got to the offseason after he'd established himself as a good player.

However, after he signed with the Knicks, they were hit with a tampering penalty due to Brunson's father, and because Leon Rose, the president of the Knicks, was Rick Brunson's agent back in the day. Their punishment for tampering? Just a second-round pick in 2025.

Pablo Torre “Do you think the Knicks may have circumvented the cap taking Jalen Brunson from your Mavs?“

Mark Cuban “IDK…Think there was a lot at play”
…
“That’s behind me. More power to JB

“Was I happy they only got dinged for a 2nd round pick? No…Should’ve been far worse” https://t.co/DWYRzuhEsG pic.twitter.com/pl1G0CzuSf
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) October 14, 2025

"I just think there was a lot at play there," Mark Cuban said of that signing on an appearance with Pablo Torre. "That's behind me. More power to JB, more power to everything. Was I happy that they only got dinged for a second-round pick? No. No, it should've been far worse, but it is what it is."

Cuban and the Mavericks were prepared to go into negotiations with Jalen Brunson that summer, but he canceled the meeting to sign with the Knicks instead. The Mavericks should've just done a deal earlier, but it's understandable how they wanted to wait until the summer.

Sep 23, 2025; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson speaks to the media during a media day press conference at the Madison Square Garden training center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Did the Knicks Circumvent the Cap for Brunson's Recent Extension?

The reason this conversation came about was to see if the Knicks circumvented the cap for Brunson's recent four-year, $156 million extension, which was well below what he could've made. Pablo Torre has been heavily investigating whether the LA Clippers did that for Kawhi Leonard, of which there is quite a bit of evidence.

The facts aren't as concrete for Brunson, if there are any at all. He's still making a lot of money, but for a former to turn down a max contract that would've been worth well around $270 million, it raises some eyebrows, even if he's just looking out for his teammates so that they can get paid without any mahor moves needing to be made.

Torre also brought up Dirk Nowitzki's three-year, $25 million contract that he signed in 2014 to Cuban to see if they circumvented the cap there. People were curious about Cuban sponsoring a film Nowitzki was a part of around that time, but Torre did the research and found that Cuban only gave about $100,000 to the production company for it.

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