Reports suggest these 2 teams could steal Jalen Brunson from Knicks
If the Dallas Mavericks don’t re-sign Jalen Brunson this summer, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent. One of Brunson’s possible landing spots is the New York Knicks, but two other teams are reportedly interested in signing the point guard.
More importantly, two other teams are interested and have the cap space to sign Brunson. The Knicks could trade away a few contracts to be able to land the guard, but they’ll have to do more work than the Pistons and Pacers would have to.
According to Marc Stein, Detroit and Indiana have shown interest in Brunson. On paper, the Pacers are a team that the guard may not be interested in, but the Pistons are poised to be an exciting team in the future. Imagine a Brunson and Cade Cunningham backcourt.
New York has a roster full of young talent too, but if Detroit makes a better offer than the Knicks’ front office, Brunson could be joining an Eastern Conference opponent.
Jalen Brunson could sign with the Pistons or Pacers over the New York Knicks.
The Pistons have also been linked to Mitchell Robinson, who will enter free agency if he and New York fail to agree to a contract extension.
Detroit finished 23-59 in 2021-22, one spot away from being the bottom team in the East. The last three times that the Pistons made it to the playoffs, they were swept in the first round. It’s been nearly 15 years since the team made it to the second round.
The rebuilding process has been just that, a process, for Detroit. Once again, the Pistons will have a shot at having the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2022.
If the Pistons signed Brunson, they’d be able to win more than 23 games in 2022-23. The organization has the money to offer something close to a maximum contract in free agency and as a possible free agent, Brunson’s expected to sign a deal in the four-year, $80 million range.
Then there’s Indiana. The Pacers traded Domantas Sabonis for Haliburton before the trade deadline. Now that the team’s in rebuild mode, Malcolm Brogdon and Myles Turner trade rumors have been floating around.
It’s practically a no-brainer that Brogdon won’t be on the 2022-23 roster, especially because of Haliburton’s presence. Turner has an expiring contract of $17.5 million for next year before he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent, and it’s hard to see him wanting to remain in Indiana.
Since Brunson will have a choice of where he wants to go as an UFA, he’ll likely prefer to join a team other than the Pacers, who finished 25-57 last season. But you never know.
The Knicks have plenty of appeal of their own, but in order to sway Brunson to Manhattan, the team will have to make a few trades to create cap space. New York has players that it can afford to move on from, like Nerlens Noel. If a Julius Randle trade materializes, that’d make a Brunson signing easier.
As for now, the Mavericks aren’t willing to participate in a sign-and-trade deal for Brunson and remain adamant that they want to re-sign him. The five-year supermax extension that Luka Doncic signed last August, along with Brunson’s performance this year, could cause Dallas to lose Brunson for nothing.
Knicks fans need to first hope that Brunson and the Mavericks don’t agree to an extension. And if that happens, fans will then need to hope that the guard wants to be in New York over Michigan or Indiana. It’s clear to see which team is the better option when it’s put that way, right?
