Knicks’ Jalen Brunson on Mavs’ Poor Season: 'I Am Surprised'

New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson is genuinely surprised at how poorly the Dallas Mavericks have played since his departure in free agency last summer.

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks have had a poor season after Jalen Brunson departed in free agency to sign with the New York Knicks on a four-year deal worth $104 million last summer. 

The Mavs hold a 37-42 record and might not even qualify for the play-in tournament after just making a Western Conference Finals appearance last season. Although Brunson has a lot of confidence in his abilities, even he is puzzled by the Mavs being as bad as they have been with his absence.

"I am surprised," Brunson said when asked about the Mavs' season. "I honestly have no comment about that, but it's definitely surprising."

Brunson's Knicks have fared much better than the Mavs this season. New York already has already qualified for the postseason and sits in fifth-place in the Eastern Conference standings. With a full 4.5-game lead over the seventh ranked Miami Heat, they are far removed from needing the play-in tournament to qualify. 

The Mavs are a full game back from the 10th ranked Oklahoma City Thunder and do not hold the tie breaker. It would take major assistance for Dallas to overtake the Thunder for that spot with just three games left to play.

Brunson's presence as both a leader in the locker room and a cohesive on-court fit have been missed by the Mavs. Brunson's former backcourt partner, Luka Doncic, even mentioned how the team misses him after Tuesday's practice.

"A lot," Doncic said, keeping it short and sweet. "I mean, amazing guy, amazing player, for sure."

The Mavs did add an impactful superstar in Kyrie Irving to pair with Doncic after Brunson's departure, and that pairing has proved to be stellar, at least on the offensive end of the floor, despite the lackluster record.

However, the organization losing Brunson for nothing is about as costly of a mistake as any NBA team has made in recent years. They had to send out integral starters and a 2029 first-round pick to fill that void as opposed to retaining Brunson and adding key pieces to fill already-apparent roster holes.

Mavs owner Mark Cuban often refers to letting Steve Nash walk in 2004 as his biggest team-building regret. Well, now he might have competition in that department with how the Brunson situation has played out.

The Mavs will be limited in terms of potential offseason moves to re-tool the roster around Doncic and Irving. If Dallas does retain its first-round pick by staying within the top 10 of the 2023 NBA Draft order, the team will only be able to trade a 2027 first-round pick as far as future draft assets are concerned. 

If the Mavs don’t convey the pick to the Knicks, they still have top-10 protections that carry through 2025. The Stepien Rule also limits the options in terms of sending out distant future picks since, and Dallas already traded its 2029 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets to acquire Irving.

For the Mavs’ sake, they need to hope they’re able to sign Irving to a new contract in free agency after all the trouble it’s taken to get to this point.

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