Jalen Brunson’s playoff performance is impossible for Knicks to ignore
By Adam Kester
Jalen Brunson is no superstar
Even as someone who finds themselves becoming more and more of a Brunson fan every day, there are reasons why he isn’t a slam dunk of a pickup. If the Knicks are signing Brunson this offseason, it means they’re breaking the bank.
Brunson will likely command somewhere in the 20-25 million dollar range, which makes sense. In a weak free agency class, Brunson gets to come in as a young guard who just went off in the playoffs. A lot of teams will be looking at him as someone just beginning to realize their untapped potential.
The Knicks will be one of those teams, but one thing to keep in mind is their salary cap situation. Signing Brunson to a long-term deal means they will have committed long-term money to Brunson, Evan Fournier, and Julius Randle. That doesn’t sound very pretty when you write it or say it out loud.
And while it’s easy to say that they can “just trade” Fournier and Randle, that’s a lot easier said than done. The team would likely be committing to that nucleus, along with RJ Barrett, who is also due for a payday.
New York’s a team that’s stuck somewhere between being young and developing and being urgent to start winning in the third year of a regime. The question really boils down to if Brunson can fit in with this team and their timeline of finding long-term success.