Jalen Brunson Reveals Real Reason He Left Mavs for Knicks
When the Dallas Mavericks lost Jalen Brunson to the New York Knicks in free agency this offseason, many believed it was inevitable due to the family ties he has in New York.
Although there is likely some truth to that, as evident by the NBA being poised to launch a tampering investigation involving the Knicks, the Mavs themselves might’ve been the ones who pushed Brunson out the door before free agency ever began.
This week, Brunson joined J.J. Redick’s “The Old Man And The Three podcast and revealed the real reason he decided to leave the team he previously thought he’d play his entire career with.
“Business came knocking on the door,” said Brunson. “It was time to just at least look. I had to do my due diligence and look and see what was out there.”
Brunson apparently wanted to sign a four-year, $56 million contract extension (the same one Dorian Finney-Smith signed in February) with the Mavs, not only before last season started, but again in January. But the Mavs didn’t offer him the extension until after the trade deadline, which sent a signal that Brunson might have been being used as trade bait. At that point, it was pretty much the beginning of the end, although Brunson remained professional about it throughout the remainder of the season.
“People might not believe it. I talked about it with my dad since year one or two, said, ‘Yeah, we’re going to be here for the rest of my career.’ That’s what I thought.”
It’s easy to envision Brunson signing a Mavs extension offer before last season, given the rough 2021 postseason he had against the Los Angeles Clippers. However, it’s hard to believe Brunson would’ve really accepted that $56 million extension in January after he had already become a full-time starter and helped the Mavs through their roughest patch of the season in December. He had already made himself a lot more than $56 million by that point.
Now, as Brunson gets cozy in his new home, he knows the pressures of playing in New York are no joke … especially when you’re a $100 million man who doesn’t play with Luka Doncic anymore.
“There’s going to be expectations for sure. I don’t think ‘target’ is the term, but the expectations are definitely going to be there,” said Brunson. “Knicks fans are die-hard basketball fans. People are expecting a lot, not just from me, but from this team.
“I just got to go out there and show it. There’s a lot I can say but at the same time, it’s not about what you say, but what you do. It’s all about your actions. … I’ve always been a person who kind of doesn’t say a lot. I’d rather show it versus say it. Let’s just say I’m ready to go.”
You can follow Dalton Trigg on Twitter at @dalton_trigg
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Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email [email protected].