A lot of NBA players have reportedly been recruiting free agent LeBron James to their teams, but New York Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson isn’t among them. Brunson was asked on the Nightcap show at the Fanatics Fest in New York on Friday if he’d pitched the idea of joining the Knicks to James.
“My job is to go out there, dribble the ball, put the ball in the hoop,” Brunson said. “Try and play a little defense. There’s people who are above me who determine who’s on the team and who’s not. So, I’ll leave the pitching to them.”
Brunson isn’t interested in interfering in any way in the team-building process. The 2026 NBA Finals MVP is letting team president Leon Rose and general manager Gersson Rosas do their jobs.
Now. Klutch Sports Group CEO Rich Paul had revealed that James would have gone to the Knicks had they not won the championship in 2026. Paul said they have a good thing going on now, and you wouldn’t want to mess things up.
“Here’s the thing,” Paul said. “LeBron has been part of championship teams where new players came in. When LeBron joins your team, I don’t care if you just won a championship or if you’ve been the best player. It’s different.
“His enterprise value and everything he brings is different,” Paul continued. “Mike Brown knows that. And I respect the fact that he, and everyone else, wouldn’t want to mess up what the Knicks have built. Jalen Brunson would literally have to pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey man, I’ve got no issue with it.’ I’m not saying that would make LeBron’s decision. But at least it would put the Knicks on the table.”
“One thing is for sure, though,” Paul added. “You want to respect what those guys have built. And it’s Jalen Brunson’s team. You want to respect that. He’s earned that right.”
It is indeed Brunson’s team, and New York is his city now. The Knicks still showed some interest in James, but it didn’t appear to be too serious. They had famously tried to sign him when he was a free agent in 2010, but he’d rejected them then. That was a hammer blow to the Knicks at the time, but they are in a position now where they can afford to pass on James, who averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2025-26.
The Knicks have a terrific core of Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart. They have nice complementary pieces too, in Jose Alvarado, Miles McBride, Landry Shamet, Jordan Clarkson, and Andre Drummond. Losing Mitchell Robinson in free agency was a blow, but one they should be able to overcome.
As for James, the five leading suitors for him are the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Philadelphia 76ers. It has also emerged that he is likely going to the Eastern Conference, and that there is hope he’ll announce his decision next week.
Going to the East would likely put James on a collision course with the Knicks in the playoffs. Despite playing 23 seasons in the NBA, he has only ever faced them in the postseason once. James and the Heat comfortably dispatched the Knicks in five games in the first round in 2012. It won’t be that easy if they meet in 2027, though.
