Three years ago, the New York Knicks embraced a franchise-altering moment when Jalen Brunson took his talents to the Big Apple.
Brunson’s departure became an eventual gut-wrenching blow for the Dallas Mavericks as they lost their primary backcourt partner and co-star for Luka Doncic just weeks after making it to the Western Conference Finals.
In his appearance on the Pablo Torre Finds Out, current Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban offered shady remarks when asked if he thinks the Knicks circumvented the cap to sign Brunson.
“I don’t know, I just think there was a lot at play there,” Cuban said.
Despite this, the former Mavs majority owner is convinced that the NBA’s punishment against New York over the Brunson negotiations is just a mere slap in the wrist.
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Even before Brunson signed that four-year, $104 million contract, it was discovered that the Knicks had held early discussions with the star guard prior to the start of the 2022 free agency, prompting the league leadership to dock the team’s 2025 second-round pick.
“That’s behind me, we’re proud of JB, we’re proud of everything,” Cuban initially said, “Was I happy that they only got dinged for a second-round pick? No. No, it should’ve been far worse. But, it is what it is.”
The Knicks have hired Rick Brunson as an assistant coach just a month after eventually signing Jalen as a free agent. It can be noted that there might be a connection to it but in reality, the Mavs must blame themselves on why Brunson chose to leave.
Cuban and Dallas could have hindered Brunson from departing the Mavs as early as 2021 if they only offered him a rookie scale extension. During that time, Brunson was already determined to sign eligible numbers of $55 million for four years, but the Mavs were fully hesitant to commit.
As a result, this allowed Brunson to be an unrestricted free agent the following year and ultimately leave the Mavs to join the Knicks. Upon these events, the rest was just history.
In the end, the Knicks couldn’t care less about the past or Cuban’s notion as they are now enjoying the most out of Brunson’s leadership in this new era of New York basketball.
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