New York Knicks fans weren't the only ones who assumed the worst when Jalen Brunson hurt his ankle in an overtime loss in March to the Lakers. Brunson told ESPN's Lisa Salters that he believed he had broken it when it first happened. Luckily, it was only a sprain, and the point guard was able to return a month later.
Brunson credited New York's medical staff for the work they did to help get him back on the floor. He specifically mentioned Casey Smith, the Knicks' VP of Sports Medicine. Brunson has known Smith since he was a rookie in Dallas, as Smith spent nearly two decades with the team before Nico Harrison informed him that he was no longer needed after the 2022-23 season.
The Knicks hired Smith last summer after his Mavericks contract expired. They also hired Heather Mau as their senior athletic trainer (she was previously an athletic trainer in Dallas).
Jalen Brunson credits Casey Smith, Heather Mau, and the entirety of the Knicks' training and coaching staff for the job they did in helping him return to the court pic.twitter.com/5tpdqU0Gl6
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) April 15, 2025
Harrison has rightfully been under fire the past couple of months after stunning the NBA world and trading Luka Doncic to the Lakers. It wasn't the first bad move he made as the Mavericks' GM (he let Brunson walk in free agency), but it will undoubtedly go down as the worst. Harrison has made several other questionable decisions -- like firing Smith.
Two former Mavs employees played key role in Brunson returning
ESPN's Tim MacMahon reported that a source said Harrison fired Smith because he was "too negative."
"He was 100 percent threatened by him," a team source told ESPN, referring to Harrison's concern that Smith's voice carried too much weight with the franchise. "He's going to show that I'm in charge and nobody else can question that."
On Tuesday, Harrison was asked about Smith. The GM said it was "kind of a joke" that Smith was brought up, defending his decision to move on from him.
"We feel that the guys that replaced them have done an amazing job," Harrison said. "And again, you're coming at me from a negative standpoint, and I look at it from a positive standpoint. The guys that we brought in are better."
Harrison hired Johann Bilsborough as director of player health and performance and Keith Belton as athletic performance director. MacMahon revealed that Belton wanted Dereck Lively II to return to the floor a couple of days after undergoing an "intense return-to-play workout" after missing a couple of games with a right ankle sprain. Bilsborough disagreed, sending Lively for a CT scan that showed a stress fracture.
A Mavericks source said someone "should've been fired for that," but Harrison said it showed "the strength of our medical team."
In case it isn't obvious -- Dallas is worse off than expected. It goes deeper than trading Luka. Harrison let Smith go for a petty reason, and the Mavericks' loss turned into the Knicks' gain. New York has dealt with fewer injuries than last season. You can credit Smith, Mau, and the medical staff for that. If it weren't for them, maybe Brunson would've missed the start of the playoffs (or worse, the entire postseason). New York would be down 0-2 right now without its star point guard.