A few seasons ago, the Dallas Mavericks lost guard Jalen Brunson to the New York Knicks in free agency. Before his final season in Dallas, the Mavericks chose not to re-sign him to a four-year, $55 million agreement, despite the fact that he had established himself as a reliable backup scoring option to Luka Doncic. His breakout season in Dallas served as a springboard for him to sign a $104 million, four-year contract with the Knicks.
After just a few years, he chose to take a huge pay cut and sign a 4-year, $156 million contract with the Knicks, leaving more than $113 million on the table if he had waited a year. Adrian Wojnarowski provides an excellent analysis of Brunson’s expected earnings in relation to his earnings potential.
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In order to ensure that the Knicks could continue to support all of his pals, Brunson made the decision to accept less. Much has been said about Mikal Bridges joining the Knicks from the Brooklyn Nets, where he will be paired with Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Hart, and Brunson, his Villanova teammates. They did, however, continue to employ Julius Randle and re-sign O.G. Anunoby to a large max extension this offseason.
He is able to sign a 4-year, $323 million contract in 2028 or a 5-year, $418 million agreement in 2029 thanks to the player option included in the deal. While Brunson may receive some compensation on his next contract, the Knicks won’t be as concerned about Brunson’s second apron for a few years.
After a breakout season in which he averaged 28.7 points per game and 6.7 rebounds per game for the Knicks, Brunson was named to the All-NBA second team. They should be among the top teams in the Eastern Conference now that he has all of his buddies and Anunoby has been re-signed.
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