Jalen Brunson now considers joining the Knicks the “best move,” but before he hit free agency in 2022, the All-Star point guard wanted to stick with the Dallas Mavericks, he said in a new interview.
Brunson, now in the second season of a four-year, $104 million contract with the Knicks, maintains he was prepared to sign a significantly cheaper extension with Dallas before the 2021-22 season but the Mavericks took too long to commit.
“I really did want to stay in Dallas,” Brunson, 27, said on the “All The Smoke” podcast. “Before my fourth season in Dallas, my last season in Dallas, we tried to extend our contract. … The most we could get was, like, four years and $55 million. Obviously, we wanted to do that. I wanted to stay there. I thought I would be there for a long time and I liked my role there.”
Originally a 2018 second-round pick out of Villanova, Brunson says he was ready to take the deal rather than gamble on his job security, despite agent Aaron Mintz encouraging him to wait for more money.
The Mavericks, however, wanted to re-evaluate 20 or 25 games into the year, according to Brunson, who says he preferred not to engage in contract discussions once the season began.
“There’s a period where [Mavericks superstar] Luka [Doncic] went out, and I started to start,” Brunson told hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. “I was playing really well. I think I was averaging like 20 [points] and like six [assists]. It was about that 20, 25-[game] mark, so we went back. We’re like, ‘Hey, if the deal’s there, we’re thinking about it. I’ll do it. Like, right now.’ Still, it was, ‘No.'”
Brunson expected Dallas to move him before the trade deadline, but the Mavericks kept him.
“The deal came on the table after the trade deadline,” Brunson said. “I was like, ‘No. I think I’ve outgrown that now.’”
That season served as a breakout campaign for Brunson, who averaged career highs to that point with 16.3 points, 4.8 assists and 31.9 minutes per game. He elevated his play even further during the 2022 postseason, leading the Mavericks to two first-round wins against the Utah Jazz while Doncic sat with a calf strain. Brunson averaged 21.6 points per game during Dallas’ run to the Western Conference Finals that year.
After the playoffs, Brunson heard “crickets” from the Mavericks, he said on the podcast. He signed with the Knicks in July 2022, about a month after the Knicks hired his father, Rick Brunson, as an assistant coach.
Mark Cuban, the former Mavericks governor, refuted in the past that Dallas had a chance to re-sign Brunson before he joined the Knicks in free agency.
“Where it went south was when Rick took over,” Cuban told reporters in April. “When the parent took over, or the parents took over.”
The 6-2 Brunson remains a revelation for the Knicks, averaging 25.6 points and 6.3 rebounds through his first 120 games with the team. This month’s All-Star selection marked the first for Brunson, whose Knicks entered the break with a 33-22 record and as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
About seven months after losing Brunson, the Mavericks acquired Kyrie Irving from the Nets to be Doncic’s running mate. Dallas entered the All-Star break with a 32-23 record, good for seventh in the Western Conference.
