At the end of the 2020-21 NBA season, the Dallas Mavericks had a decision to make. They could have offered the then 24-year-old guard Jalen Brunson a four-year extension of his rookie deal for a high of $55.5 million.
(A steal, if I do say so myself). Now the wiff is bound to be some NBA trivia night deep cut.
It’s hard to believe, but the NBA Champion stated he would have stayed in the heart of Texas for that contract. In his third NBA season, Brunson averaged his career highs in points, rebounds, and assists - not to mention finishing fourth in the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award.
That original offer didn’t materialize due to the organization’s apprehensiveness, and Brunson would go on to have a stellar 2021-2022 contract year, in which he (again) topped his career high in points, rebounds, and assists. When the Mavs were down star guard Luka Dončić, Brunson led the team to a 2-1 series lead against the Utah Jazz - including an incredible game two performance where he scored a career high 41 points while Doncic was out due to injury.
Although they would eventually lose to the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 Western Conference Finals, there’s a universe where Brunson stays with the team - and is a formidable backcourt duo with Dončić for years to come. Former Mavericks owner Mark Cuban seemed to think so. “We can pay him more than anybody,” Cuban said on the cusp of Brunson’s free agency, according to ESPN. So, what happened? Well, they didn’t do it. Despite two opportunities to get their potential number-two franchise player for a long time and the ability to add other pieces, the Mavericks fell asleep at the wheel. Brunson’s play exceeded that $55 million extension, and the New York Knicks were interested.
Maybe it was fate that Knicks President Leon Rose and Brunson’s godfather declared him a “top target” in 2020. Maybe it was the Mavericks’ aloofness in offering the reigning 2026 NBA Finals MVP a five-year, $105 million deal - way below the “pay him more” declaration Cuban stated prior. Perhaps it was the promise of a homecoming for Brunson. He did grow up in New Brunswick, just an hour away from Madison Square Garden. It didn’t hurt that the month before he signed with the team, the Knicks hired his father, former NBA player Rick Brunson, as an assistant coach. On June 30, 2022, Brunson signed a four-year, $104 million contract with the Knicks. One man’s dragging of the feet is another team’s treasure.
The benefits didn’t stop there. Brunson signed a four-year, $156.5 million extension with the Knicks in 2024, leaving $113 million on the table. I know what you’re thinking…take the money, get the bag, etc! But Brunson taking less money paved the way for the Knicks to trade for another New Jersey native in forward/center Karl Anthony Towns.
Let's fast-forward to the present.
Mark Cuban is no longer the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Luka Dončić is a Los Angeles Laker. And Jalen Brunson, let's say he had a year. He led the Knicks to win the in-season NBA Cup and was the MVP. (In a funny piece of foreshadowing, the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs to win the title). Brunson also became a three-time All-Star, averaging 26 points and 8 assists, and shooting .467 from the field.
Brunson takes his play to another level in the playoffs. This couldn't be more true than his masterful game five performance on Friday night with 45 of the Knicks' 94 total points on the road, not to mention 15 points alone in the fourth quarter.
Wouldn't you say 53 years is a long enough time between championship titles? Knicks fans know the agony all too well. The Mavericks weren't willing to spend $55.5 million, or even match the initial $104 million it took to land Brunson in the Big Apple. But as it turns out, the $156.5 million commitment the star guard and the Knicks organization made to each other to build a winner was well worth the price tag.
It was to avenge the 1994 Knicks team, led by players like Patrick Ewing, John Starks, and Charles Oakley, who came oh-so-close to defeating Hakeem Olajuwon's Houston Rockets before going down in seven games.
It was also to mirror the heart of the 1999 Knicks team, who, with the likes of Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell and an ailing Patrick Ewing, fought all the way to the finals as an underdog eight seed, only to lose to an insurmountable Spurs team that featured the dual towers of Tim Duncan and David Robinson.
$156.5 million was enough to exorcise the demons of the terrible free agent signings of the past, like Eddy Curry, Jerome James, and Jared Jefferies, to name a few. If you mention the words Isiah Thomas and President of Basketball Operations to Knicks fans, they might break out into a blind rage.
Can't forget about the Carmelo Anthony era. It would have been great to see the Brooklyn native at least get to the Finals.
If all eight million New York City residents weren't in the streets chanting and celebrating after midnight on Sunday, they surely will be Thursday at the ticker-tape parade on Thursday morning. They've earned it.
These moments in sports are priceless. The fandom, the tears, the hugs, and the singing of either Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind" or Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" with strangers who might turn into friends.
All it took was for the Knicks franchise to "overpay" for a slightly undersized guard who has won at every level of basketball — from high school and college to the NBA. To think, the Mavericks could have possibly had this same feeling for almost $100 million less. New York took that bet and it paid off handsomely.
