New York Knicks Rumors: NY has plenty of links to Jalen Brunson

New York Knicks Rumors: Will the Mavericks trade Jalen Brunson?

This is a situation where I recommend one of my favorite exercises — imagining you are a fan of a different team. Whether it’s for potential trades or evaluating young players, I always find this to be a good way to measure what’s going on with different teams in the NBA.

Imagine you are a Dallas Mavericks fan. Your team is 29-21 and you are the 5th seed in the Western Conference.

Jalen Brunson is arguably your 2nd best player, certainly your 3rd best.

He’s an ascending talent, and really the combo guard next to Luka Doncic that this team has needed.

While I understand Brunson is a free agent at the end of the season and will certainly demand a long-term contract of around 20 million per year.

The Mavs are certainly strapped for cash, but in situations like this, you feel the team will find a way to try and keep him.

Unless the Mavericks are getting some sort of king’s ransom for Jalen Brunson, why would they actively want to make their team worse? This is a team that’s trying to take the next step in their playoff quest and maybe reach a 2nd or 3rd round. They want to show their franchise player, Luka Doncic, that they’re committed to winning.

Kemba Walker and a first-round pick… doesn’t do much for them.

Now maybe, New York finds a way to pull this off. Brunson certainly wouldn’t be a rental for them — they’d definitely want to get a contract extension done soon if they trade for him.

The trade deadline is just a few weeks away, so we’ll find out sooner rather than later.