Knicks’ Jalen Brunson: ‘It Was Crickets’ From Mavericks Ahead of 2022 NBA Free Agency

Scott Polacek@@ScottPolacekFeatured Columnist IVFebruary 21, 2024

Cooper Neill/NBAE via Getty Images

The Dallas Mavericks could surely use All-Star guard Jalen Brunson in their backcourt as they pursue a playoff spot in the Western Conference, but they missed their chance to re-sign him after the 2022 playoffs.

“So we lost in the Western Conference Finals and I remember seeing something on Twitter after the game and it was like, Mark [Cuban] saying, ‘we can pay him the most money,'” Brunson said on the All the Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson (two-minute mark).

“He says that in the interview, literally right after the game. And so I’m thinking, like, alright I’m okay. After that it was crickets. From my point of view, can’t speak for anyone else, it was crickets.”

All the Smoke Productions @allthesmokeprod.@jalenbrunson1 details his last season in Dallas. He was ready to sign a 4-year $55 million contract, but the Mavs front office balked.😳

Full episode of All The Smoke with JB drops tomorrow on our YouTube. pic.twitter.com/whxbOrez0w

Brunson started his career as a second-round pick of Dallas in the 2018 NBA draft and established himself as one of the team’s most important players going into his fourth season.

He said that he “really did want to stay in Dallas” ahead of what proved to be his final campaign with the team in 2021-22 but the team was hesitant to ink him to a four-year, $55 million extension and wanted to let some of the season play out.

Brunson explained he and his agent went back to the front office at around the quarter-season mark just to be told the same thing, but the offer was on the table after the trade deadline passed without him being moved.

However, the Villanova product said he thought he had “outgrown that” offer by then and was looking for something more. Yet even after he averaged 21.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists in the postseason while helping lead the Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals and carrying them for small stretches when Luka Dončić was hurt, there was apparently “crickets” from the team.

He ended up signing a four-year, $104 million contract with the New York Knicks during the summer of 2022. New York was notably stripped of its 2025 second-round pick for tampering with the guard prior to the start of free agency.

The deal was more than worth it for the Knicks, as Brunson is one of the best guards in the Eastern Conference now and was an All-Star this season. He is averaging 27.6 points, 6.5 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game and is a major reason the team is in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

New York also reached the second round of the playoffs last season for the first time since the 2012-13 campaign.

Dallas is currently in seventh in the Western Conference after failing to reach the playoffs entirely without Brunson last season. There is probably an element of regret in the front office at this point, although Brunson is thriving in the Big Apple.