Mark Cuban Reveals Mavs’ Scouting Report On Jalen Brunson: “Little Bit Chubby, Not Quite As Fast”

Mark Cuban hilariously reveals that the Mavericks' scouts said Jalen Brunson was a bit chubby, not very fast, and not athletic.

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Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Jalen Brunson has now become a superstar in the NBA, but he was not a highly thought of prospect coming out of Villanova. Brunson was only selected with the 33rd pick of the 2018 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks and their former majority owner Mark Cuban was asked why they chose him, on the Roommates Show.

“I’ll tell you the whole war room story, man, it was great,” Cuban said. “So, we picked Luka (Doncic), traded up to get Luka, and we get to 31 and there’s all the scouts that were like, JB, JB, JB, JB, he’s a winner, yada yada, little bit chubby, not quite as fast, not super athletic, but he’s a winner, he’s a cleanup kid, you can’t put a value on that. That’s our guy. And then we had Yogi Ferrell, who was from Indiana. The decision was made to draft JB, and then Yogi took a deal with the Sacramento Kings.”

Co-host Matt Hillman hilariously stated Cuban did not have to mention the chubby part, but it certainly made for a better story. As for the rest, I’d say the scouts were pretty much on the mark.

Brunson has never been the fastest or most athletic but he certainly is a winning player. He entered the NBA after winning two national titles with Villanova and being named the 2018 Naismith Player of the Year. Life in the pros got off to a slow start, though, and it initially looked like he’d be yet another great college player who would go on to have a solid but unspectacular career in the league.

That perception of Brunson only started to change in his fourth season with the Mavericks. He nailed down a starting spot in the 2021-22 campaign and went on to play a big role in them making it to the Western Conference Finals. He famously had a 41-point outing against the Utah Jazz in the first round, in Luka Doncic’s absence, and that was a sign of things to come.

Brunson became a free agent after that postseason and Cuban and the Mavericks were unable to hold on to him. He headed off to the New York Knicks on a four-year, $104 million deal, and it was actually thought of as an overpay at the time. It turned out to be quite a bargain for the Knicks.

In his first season, Brunson led the Knicks back to the playoffs with a 47-35 record and finished third in voting for Most Improved Player. Things then got even better in 2023-24, as the team went 50-32 to finish with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.

Brunson took another big leap in his second season with the Knicks, averaging 28.7 points, 3.6 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game. The 28-year-old’s excellence on the court saw him finish fifth in voting for MVP and he made the All-NBA Second Team as well.

Brunson then averaged a whopping 32.4 points per game in the playoffs and nearly dragged an injury-ravaged Knicks team to the Eastern Conference Finals. He has now well and truly established himself as one of the best point guards in the NBA and one wonders what might have been, had the Mavericks managed to keep hold of him.

The Knicks sure are glad that things didn’t turn out that way. Brunson signed a four-year, $156.5 million extension with the team this offseason and both parties hope their partnership lasts for a very long time.

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Gautam Varier is a staff writer and columnist for Fadeaway World from Mumbai, India. He graduated from Symbiosis International University with a Master of Business specializing in Sports Management in 2020. This educational achievement enables Gautam to apply sophisticated analytical techniques to his incisive coverage of basketball, blending business acumen with sports knowledge.Before joining Fadeaway World in 2022, Gautam honed his journalistic skills at Sportskeeda and SportsKPI, where he covered a range of sports topics with an emphasis on basketball. His passion for the sport was ignited after witnessing the high-octane offense of the Steve Nash-led Phoenix Suns. Among the Suns, Shawn Marion stood out to Gautam as an all-time underrated NBA player. Marion’s versatility as a defender and his rebounding prowess, despite being just 6’7”, impressed Gautam immensely. He admired Marion’s finishing ability at the rim and his shooting, despite an unconventional jump shot, believing that Marion’s skill set would have been even more appreciated in today’s NBA.This transformative experience not only deepened his love for basketball but also shaped his approach to sports writing, enabling him to connect with readers through vivid storytelling and insightful analysis.
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