NY Knicks: 2 trades that NY should make that fill huge needs
Would you want the NY Knicks to trade for Jalen Brunson?
We lost Reggie.
It’s a sad day…and as much as I wish him well in his future endeavors, for as long as the doofy, tall Latvian guy is on that team, I will hope the Mavericks lose every game they play.
But, as soon as the news dropped about Reggie Bullock’s signing with the Mavs, the gears started to churn upstairs, and a guy I’ve been calling for the Knicks to trade for is also on the Mavs…
Jalen Brunson.
There’s a number of positive implications that could come out of a sign-and-trade deal.
A Bullock ($9.7M) + 1st deal for Brunson ($1.8M) would actually net us a trade exception too. We could extend Jalen using Bird rights for next season onward. If they let us add Knox ($5.8M) or Luca ($3.3M) to the deal, we’d actually create cap space to add to our ~$12M in space.
— #TeamHaasBulla (@DancinInTheDarf) August 3, 2021
The ink hasn’t dried on Bully’s deal as of yet, so the Knicks and Leon Rose can still try to finagle Brunson away from Dallas.
The Knicks could still look to the free agency pool for a point guard on their own, but Brunson fits the team’s style of play and timeline like a glove.
He was just recently rumored to the Knicks a few weeks ago so conversations may have been had.
Ian Begley of SNY added more fuel to the Brunson fire by writing this article and tweeting this out on Tuesday:
Worth noting as Knicks continue to pursue free agents: NYK & DAL had interest in sign-and-trade that would send Reggie Bullock to Dallas, per sources. Unclear how strongly that sign & trade has been pursued. More notes here: https://t.co/hCCxI3FCox
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) August 3, 2021
I’m not surprised that there aren’t a lot of Jalen Brunson fans out there in Knicks Nation, mainly because they don’t understand exactly how good he truly is.
All they see is what’s on paper and that he’s a backup in Dallas.
What people fail to understand is that he’s in an unfortunate position playing behind one of the league’s most talented young stars in Luka Doncic and his playstyle doesn’t allow for him to spend much time on the court with him.
Therefore, he’s stuck in a reserve role that he’s much more deserving of.
Brunson was drafted in the same second round as Mitchell Robinson and signed a very similar contract to him.
One that would make him an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Jason Kidd and Co will have to assess the roster and see how much they value Brunson to see if he’s worth paying a handsome salary next year and handicap their future flexibility OR if they should trade him now and get something out of him in return.
What some don’t know is how heavily connected Brunson is to the Knicks…
His father Rick played for the Knicks. Rick was also Knicks’ President of Basketball Operations Leon Rose’s first client.
Rose is still very close with both Rick and Jalen to this day.
Rick has also been on every one of Tom Thibodeau’s coaching staffs up until his current tenure with the Knicks.
To be frank, if the trade above didn’t get the deal done, I’d consider going as far as replacing the two second-round picks with Dallas’ 2023 1st back to them.
That’s how high I am on Brunson and you should be too.