Jalen Brunson appears ready to leave the Mavericks and sign with the Knicks for a reported $110MM over four years, but money may not be the only factor, writes Tim Cato of The Athletic. Sources tell Cato that Brunson might not be willing to re-sign with the Mavs even if they agree to match New York’s offer, which has led to pessimism in Dallas about keeping the 25-year-old guard.
Cato adds that as of Tuesday, there’s no indication that the Mavericks are considering making a larger offer to Brunson.
In the same story, Cato examines Dallas’ system for evaluating how much players are worth and explains why the team decided not to offer Brunson a four-year, $55MM extension last summer.
There’s more on the free agent market:
- The Kings are expected to be one of the teams reaching out to Victor Oladipo, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Injuries limited Oladipo to eight games during the regular season, but he was part of the rotation during the Heat’s playoff run. Oladipo is looking for a starting position and a salary in the $10MM range, tweets John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7.
- The Grizzlies are interested in Joe Ingles, Begley adds in the same piece. Ingles is rehabbing after his season was ended by a torn ACL in late January.
- Rumors have linked the Rockets to several centers in free agency, but Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle isn’t convinced that it’s a position of need. Second-year center Alperen Sengun is projected to be the starter and the team plans to use a small-ball approach, with no traditional center, for eight to 10 minutes per game. Feigen notes that the Rockets want to be careful with their cap space beyond this season and suggests they may not make a large offer to a free agent this year.
The Rockets really don’t have to do anything. Maybe go after amp Bamba or Hartenstein and if that doesn’t work out just ride with the squad. Keep Boban.
Mo*
Can anybody even name a Rockets center since Mutombo retired?
The Knicks going through hoops to sign Brunson is wild lol.
Not sure what they did that was so wild. They got rid of guys they didn’t need and were gonna be gone anyway and got rid of 2nd round picks
@Bk11235 2
traded assets to move out of the 1st round altogether, to move off of expiring deals that they gave out last summer.
So – forewent adding a young player, on a rookie deal, to grow with the young players already on the team – instead they are looking to give a contract to a player that keeps them right where they are (record-wise), minus the expiring contracts they traded. Maybe there’s another (unreported) move in the works, but right now the offseason is looking like Brunson and a $10M+/yr raise for Mitch.
That’s not wild?
Or you can put it another way:
Knicks got 3 first round picks for trading out of a very weak draft where none of their targets were available, traded “assets” (aka second round picks which they have a million of and can be acquired with incredible ease) to get rid of deals they signed specifically to be able to trade them easily, and cleared over $30 mil in the process to sign a guy that would be the best PG they’ve had in decades. And for all the talk of the contract offered, Brunson wouldn’t even be a top 10 highest paid PG on that salary.
Knicks have 7 first rounders the next 3 years and lots of young talent to dangle, saying the offseason is “looking done” before FA even starts is more wild than what the Knicks have done so far.
The Knicks ownership always seem to labor under the delusion that they are one move away from greatness. Thus they make dumb moves.
They do have their own 1st round picks for the immediate future and 3 protected picks. The Dallas one likely conveys in 23… Detroit and Washington are protected and it will likely be a while before either team picks far enough down in the draft for either to convey.
Not the greatest assets, but some trade value. Just dont expect the Knicks to use them wisely.
@jordanrulestheworld
His former agent, and father to one of the people representing him, is running the team.
It’s cronyism at its finest. Someone will try to twist logic & “how to build at a treadmill team: 101” to explain how it’s not “that” bad tho.
The Knicks have sadly been an embarrassment for decades. The last time they were even close to relevant was when Jordan’s Bulls smacked them around in the 90’s. The self proclaimed “Mecca of basketball” has operated more like a small market expansion team making bush league mistake after bush league mistake. It would be good for the league if that major market actually started performing like a major market franchise.
Overpaying for Brunson? Not a difference maker, not even sort of. Basically like changing a light bulb on the Titanic moments before it crashes into the iceberg.
“Mecca of basketball”=MSG, not Knicks. And it refers to the historical importance of MSG in the development of popularizing basketball; specifically the college game, which predates the NBA.
Thank you!
Leon Rose may be a successful agent but he is not qualified to be an NBA Executive. You fools don’t see that he is learning by trial and error and will get them to mediocrity with these horrible drafts and stupid signings. Come on smell the coffee he doesn’t know what he is doing he’s just making moves for him and CAA need a new Owner before anything’s going to really change just like the Mets.
Horrible drafts? People may not like the constant maneuvering and asset hoarding but to say Rose hasn’t drafted well is ridiculous. Quickley and Grimes already have solidified roles in the NBA, valuable assets, who were late firsts, Jericho Sims is a serviceable backup center a year after he was taken 58th, and even though I wanted Hali at the time, Obi has shown huge strides and a lot of potential when he’s gotten more than 10 minutes a game. Even McBride has shown flashes, and Rokas won the EuroLeague Rising Star award. All but one of those guys were taken with pick 23 or later.
I don’t agree with all of his moves, and some of them I’ve hated, but the draft has been the one thing they’ve hit out of the park in his tenure.
Mediocrity is not success. Like I am the only person saying this??? Google Knucks 2022 draft. How about the year before trading back and then trading the pick to ATL for Cam Reddish and then not playing him? Why didn’t they trade Burks at last year’s deadline and at least get something for him rather than paying and sending pics to trade him who.does that? LOST
Again, said I didn’t agree with all his moves, the guy isn’t perfect, but their draft evaluations and subsequent develop since Rose has taken over has been miles ahead of anything the Knicks have done in decades, so yeah it’s a step in the right direction. And again they got 3 firsts for trading the 11th pick in a weak draft, when they don’t have much space for another developmental player anyway. PS: you can buy a second rounder for literally nothing every draft day.
Just a lot of moaning without seeing the big picture.
I can see your point but remember the picks they got are heavily protected. Maybe there is a plan here somewhere but to me the FO started making mistakes when they wasted the cap space they so cherished on extending Rose Noel Burks Gibson 2 seasons ago and after all this draft nonsense and giveaways to get Brunson, who was mind you, a second round pick,that you do not see any other team do it suddenly dawned on me-Leon Rose is LOST. Pelicans, Grizzlies Bulls making the right moves, Knucks? Not so.much…
If money is the deciding factor, and the offers arent that far off from each other, as was reported yesterday, wouldn’t no state income tax in Dallas vs New York exorbitant tax rate favor the lower Dallas offer? If I’m dallas O hope he goes to the Knocks, but I’m just saying it feels like money wouldnt be the reason if the reports are true
I also dont get how this isnt tampering, knowing exact offers and stuff, but the Lowry trade was, but we dont have to go back to that again lol
If you were Dallas, why would you want another team to take your second best player when you have zero recourse to recoup any sort of value or reasonably replace him?
He is already replaced.
It is tampering… but the penalty doesn’t amount to squat. So, no big deal.
If the Knicks were smart, they’d sign and trade for Brunson for $1M per (others Dallas would match) and pay the balance to his dad via payroll so they can maintain the additional cap room they’ve recently created. Brunson’s dad can set up an allowance plan that pays off weekly.
If they did that the penalty given by the nba would be massive.
Was being a wiseass considering his dad is part of the FO.
There is no sign of tampering with Brunson yet. Reports of what a team intend to pursue, and under what terms, occur all the time. Has anyone reported a negotiation between the NYK and Brunson?
If an agreement is announced within minutes after 6:00 pm, then there probably was tampering (it’s unlikely that team and player just began talking after that time). If a S&T is announced at that time, then there certainly was tampering (a 3 party deal certainly can’t come together in that time).
The rules are dumb, and can lack substance, and, IMO, should just be repealed. But stop pretending they are incoherent, and can apply to every situation. That’s simply not the case.
You’d think at some point, the Rockets would think about the titles they won with a dominant center and how many they’ve won with a “small ball/no defense/chuck the ball from half court without setting up a play” approach.