Jalen Brunson is inching closer to becoming a New York Knick by the day as it looks like the 2018 second-round draft pick will be signing with New York instead of re-signing with the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs have tried to retain Brunson, but the superstar recruitment that the Knicks have done for Brunson is something Dallas can’t better.
The rumors of New York wanting Brunson became widely reported during the Playoffs when the Knicks sent a team of executives and Julius Randle on a scouting trip to the Dallas-Utah series in the first round. While many thought it was also to scout Donovan Mitchell, it has become clear that Brunson was always the target.
According to Fred Katz of The Athletic, the Mavericks were not pleased with the Knicks for that stunt and has rubbed the team off the wrong way, especially now that Brunson looks very likely to leave for the Knicks.
Fred Katz: “I get the sense that Dallas is very frustrated with the Knicks front office”
Then states that he heard from multiple sources that Dallas was very angry that Leon, Wes, and Julius showed up to their playoff game vs Utah.
— zach (@_zachblatter) June 28, 2022
Dallas would be justified to be upset about this, but it is ultimately a business move on part of the Knicks. Unless any of the Knicks management members spoke to Brunson about a possible team switch, there wasn’t anything wrong that they did. It was a terrific move on their part, as it showed Brunson that they really do want to sign him.
The Knicks have opened up cap space for Brunson after trading away Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel to open up a further $18 million. The Knicks can offer Jalen a max contract that would give him $30.5 million a year. Right now, it is rumored that Brunson will sign a contract just short of that value.
Dallas can bring their frustrations up with the league office if they believed any tampering was involved. It doesn’t look like the Mavs will be doing that as they see Jalen take 4 years of development and walk out the door for nothing to New York.
