According to sources, the Dallas Mavericks have been told that guard Jalen Brunson is going to sign with the New York Knicks.
Sources confirmed that a meeting with the Mavs was canceled in the afternoon, as Brunson decided to sign with the Knicks. According to sources, New York is expected to offer a four-year contract.
The meeting with Dallas had been called off.
The Knicks made a more lucrative offer to play a larger role for a franchise that has deep family ties, including the addition of his father as an assistant coach.
Knicks president Leon Rose, who made a series of trades since draft night to create enough cap space to sign Brunson, is a prominent former player agent. At the beginning of his career, he represented another person. He was an assistant for the Chicago Bulls and the Minnesota Timberwolves before he was hired by Rick.
The New York franchise that has not won a playoff series in the last nine seasons is going to be helped by a 25-year-old who averaged 16.3 points and 4.8 assists last year. The only time the Knicks made the playoffs and won was in 2020-21, when they went 41-31 and lost in the first round to Atlanta.
After joining the starting lineup on a full-time basis in December, he became the second option behind Luka Doncic. The Mavericks made it to the Western Conference finals for the first time in 11 years, thanks in part to the play of point guard Brunson. In the first-round victories over the Utah Jazz, he scored 41 and 31 points, showing that he could thrive as a team's primary point guard.
"It's a great fit in Dallas, but at the end of the day, my son is no different than the next man," Rick said. Everyone wants what Luka has, so you try to raise them in a way that makes them understand the game. I'm not interested in who you are. Everyone wants to feel like they can do this as well. I don't think the grass is better on the other side, but we'll go through all the pros and cons of staying here or moving somewhere else this summer.
In the wake of the playoffs, Mavericks governor Mark Cuban and general managerNico Harrison ranked Brunson as the team's top priority in the off-season, but Dallas' confidence in keeping him waned in the days leading to free agency.
According to sources, the Mavericks were willing to give the guard a five-year contract that was comparable to the four-year, $85 million deal that Fred VanVleet signed with the Raptors.
After the trade deadline, the Mavs offered a four-year, $55.5 million contract extension to Brunson, but he turned it down because his fourth season was not guaranteed. He was confident that he would make a lot more money as a free agent.
Rick Brunson said that his son was willing to sign the extension if it was offered. If the Mavs had the chance to trade for a star, Dallas decided to hold off on discussions until after the deadline, so that they wouldn't be able to trade for six months.
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