Jalen Brunson To Sign Four-Year, $110M Deal With Knicks

It looks like free agent guard Jalen Brunson is headed to the Knicks. And his people didn’t even give the Mavericks a chance to make an offer. 

Shams Charania reported on Twitter Thursday that “Free agent Jalen Brunson intends to sign a four-year, near $110M deal with the New York Knicks in free agency, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The Mavericks never received chance to make offer, sources said.”

Free agent Jalen Brunson intends to sign a four-year, near $110M deal with the New York Knicks in free agency, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The Mavericks never received chance to make offer, sources said.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 30, 2022

Ouch. If you’re Mavs owner Mark Cuban, that’s gotta hurt.

Cuban had sounded confident immediately following the season that the Mavs would re-sign Brunson.

“We can pay him more than anybody,” Cuban told Marc Stein of The Stein Line. “I think he wants to stay and that’s important.”

He added that Brunson likely benefitted from playing under Kidd, a Hall of Fame point guard who was in his first season coaching the Mavs. Brunson, no doubt, had a breakout year.

“I think J-Kidd has a big part to play in that,” Cuban told Stein. “JB blossomed as a player as much as anybody on the squad. From where he was last year to how far he came this year is a tribute to Jalen and how hard he worked.

“The support he got from his dad, his family, his girlfriend, but also what he was able to learn to from J-Kidd. And I think he recognizes that and I think he wants to stay.”

Or not.

The Knicks recently hired Brunson’s father, Rick Brunson, as an assistant coach. They appeared confident that they could steal Brunson away from Dallas, where he had a breakout season. With good reason, apparently.

Brunson, 25, is 6-foot-1 and just finished his fourth year with the Mavericks, averaging career highs of 16.3 points, 4.8 assists and 3.9 rebounds.