Jalen Brunson was always going to get paid the big bucks after some great showings in the playoffs and the question was just exactly how much the money was going to be. The Mavericks reportedly passed up the chance to lock up Brunson to a 4-year $55.6 million deal twice, once before last season and then in January this year, decisions they look to be regretting big time at the moment.
While initially it just seemed like those decisions meant they would have to pay him a lot more, it now looks like they might end up losing him in free agency. Mark Stein had reported that the Knicks are expected to offer Brunson a 4-year deal worth approximately $100 million and as per Jake Fischer, it looks like Brunson is angling towards accepting that offer. Fischer was responding to a fan on his podcast “Please Don’t Aggregate This”, where he said it’s more likely than not, that Brunson signs with the Knicks.
via Please Don’t Aggregate This:
“I really don’t have like a ballpark on it but from everything I’ve heard, it really does sound like things have shifted and he (Brunson) is more likely than not to become a member of the Knicks as opposed to the Dallas Mavericks. It really has sounded that things have shifted in that direction.”
“I referenced on here a couple of weeks ago when Jalen had apparently been telling some people that it was kind of a done deal and the quote essentially a done deal was kind of making its way around the league that he was going back to Dallas. All those people have reversed course and all of a sudden it really does sound like he’s going to New York now and he’s going to get a significant offer of at least 4-years $100 (million), who knows how much it’ll be.”
Fischer was keen to point out that it’s not a done deal yet but things are definitely headed that way and that’s a big blow to Dallas. They had just traded for Christian Wood to have a big upgrade at the center spot and are now on the verge of losing a guy who averaged 21.6 points per game in these playoffs.
It will almost certainly ensure that they won’t make it back to the Western Conference Finals next season and it’s going to end up being another wasted year of Luka Doncic’s career. They cannot afford to have too many more of those.
