Jalen Brunson capped off an exceptional NBA Finals run for the Knicks with a 45-point masterclass last night against the Spurs to also secure the Finals MVP award along with the Knicks’ first NBA championship since 1973.
The 29-year-old former Mavericks guard finished the night with 45 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals while shooting 14-27 from the field (51.9 FG%) and 4-7 from beyond the arc (57.1 3P%).
And his father, Rick Brunson, saw this to be the perfect time to show gratitude to the team that drafted his son into the league, the Mavericks, and its minority owner, Mark Cuban, for eventually letting him go so that he could join his father’s team during free agency.
“Tell Mark [Cuban], thank you!” Rick Brunson said, as per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
Subsequently, on the Hoops Collective Podcast, MacMahon also spoke about how Mark Cuban and the Mavericks gave up on Jalen Brunson, feeling that his contract demands were an overpay in 2022.
“The Mavericks, Cuban can say what he wants, they did not bid to try to keep him, and they can say, ‘Oh well, we didn’t know what the number was.’ Really? Because everybody else did. I reported it a week before it became official. They got hit with a second-round pick for tampering,” MacMahon said.
“It would have taken a max offer to make the Brunson think, you know, even think twice about it, but they didn’t try because they didn’t think he was worth it. The Mavericks thought this was a massive overpay. All Jalen Brunson has done his whole career is prove people wrong. And even his dad didn’t think he was going to be this good.”
Jalen Brunson had apparently approached the Mavericks’ front office twice before becoming a free agent, with an offer to accept a $55 million contract (the highest they could offer him at the time). They refused on both occasions and did not negotiate with him until he became a free agent.
According to reports, they later came with a $55 million offer to Brunson during free agency, and Brunson’s camp laughed at the offer, saying he would prefer to test free agency in 2022.
Mark Cuban, initially in 2023, had publicly indicated that the reason the Mavericks were not able to agree with Jalen Brunson on an extension was due to the involvement of his parents, i.e., Rick Brunson, the Knicks’ assistant coach.
Subsequently, in 2024, Cuban apologized to Jalen Brunson for the negative implications of his comments on the role of his parents. Rick Brunson publicly called out Mark Cuban and had defended his sons in 2024, saying he was involved in the negotiations beyond protecting the interests of his son.
But now, after years of silence, this cheeky statement could also be an olive branch between the two to settle their public feud for good. Let’s see if Mark Cuban has anything to say about Jalen Brunson leading the Knicks to a championship.
