LAS VEGAS — Jalen Brunson had the chance to sign his second nine-figure contract of his career, but was unavailable.
Negotiations, if you can call them that, on a likely extension couldn’t begin until midnight ET on Friday. Yet the All-Star point guard was able to guess his team’s offer long before any legalese came his way.
The New York Knicks were poised to give Brunson everything they could, even if the deal was disproportionate to a player of his stature.
The team had capped what it could pay Brunson, limiting him to a contract that would pay him far less than a contract he could sign if he waited until 2025 as a free agent and then re-signed with the organization.
Brunson had decided long before he was eligible to play that he wanted to stay in New York, that he had fallen in love with the franchise, that he valued the security of a dollar today over more dollars tomorrow, that he wanted to keep playing for head coach Tom Thibodeau and with his Villanova friends, and that he hoped to compete for a title with a team that sees itself as a contender this season and beyond.
But when Friday came, Brunson had more important plans.
Instead of prioritizing business, Brunson was hanging out with his good friend and teammate, Josh Hart. He was so eager to continue hanging out with his team that he put off re-signing… because he was too busy hanging out with his team.
Build a statue for him 🥲
— Josh Hart (@joshhart) July 12, 2024
Brunson put pen to paper on the extension on Friday afternoon, a historic moment for the Knicks. No other player in league history has recommitted to a franchise in this way.
The extension pays him $156.5 million over four years, $113 million less guaranteed than he could have gotten if he had waited until free agency. No player has ever left that much money on the table — especially one early in his prime.
The most famous cases of deep cuts in the NBA occurred with players who were already drawing huge salaries. Dirk Nowitzki took a three-year, $25 million contract to return to the Dallas Mavericks in 2014, when he could have made nearly four times as much if he had wanted, but Nowitzki was already in his mid-30s. Tim Duncan chopped off his salary so he could play with the San Antonio Spurs forever, but he was an established veteran by then.
Brunson is now opting for the cheaper contract rather than becoming a free agent in a year, which would have made him eligible for a max contract expected to be worth $269.1 million over five years.
There were financial arguments for why it was worth locking up the money. Brunson appreciated the security an extension would provide. This is still more money than some CEOs make in a lifetime. He better protect himself from injury.
Signing an extension now also makes him eligible for his next extension a year earlier than if he had waited until free agency to sign the five-year pact. Those extra 365 days could be significant.
But there’s a reason this is a notable moment. The Knicks are now open for business in an era that will be dominated by a punishing collective bargaining agreement that will stifle the flexibility of any hyper-expensive team.
Based on dollars alone, Brunson just provided the largest financial favor in NBA history.
And it doesn’t make much difference.
He signed with one priority in mind: taking every reasonable step he could to get that ring. The Knicks can now move forward knowing they have Brunson under a team-friendly contract through at least 2028. His new deal runs through the 2025-26 season and includes a player option for the final year. It comes with all the bells and whistles, including a 15 percent trade kicker, a league source said.
New York’s hopes of staying under the dreaded second apron not only in 2024-25 but also into next season and possibly beyond just became a lot more realistic. The Knicks, who traded five first-round picks (including four unprotected) for Mikal Bridges earlier this offseason, already believe their title window is open. The Brunson extension has pushed the glass even further, specifically through 2026.
Bridges is under a bargain contract until then, earning him $23.3 million this season and $24.9 million thereafter. Brunson is set to make in the $34.9 million range in the first year of the deal, when the Knicks have committed $153.2 million to nine players: Brunson, Bridges, Hart, OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson, Donte DiVincenzo, Miles McBride, Pacome Dadiet and Tyler Kolek. The second is projected to make around $207.8 million this season.
If they stay under $207.8 million in salaries, they create valuable assets for the Knicks. If they cross that threshold, they’ll forgo the mid-level exception, the ability to make most trades and more.
Brunson may get a chance to make back most of the money he gave up. The Athletics Detailed earlier this week, the extension allows him to hit free agency in 2028 after his 10th year in the NBA. He’ll be eligible for the largest max contract a player can get, worth an expected $417 million over five years. If Brunson were to sign it, increased salaries in 2028-29 and 2029-30 would close the gap.
But 2028 is four years in the future. No one knows what will happen between now and then.
Players get injured. They regress. Small point guards like Brunson have historically been more prone to these types of accidents. For whatever reason, the Knicks could wind down by then and choose to go in a different direction. They could hire a new front office or coach. This is the NBA, where drastic changes can happen overnight, let alone in four years.
There is no guarantee that Brunson will make this money back. But of course he didn’t do this to get rich. He did it to give his team the best chance to win.
(Top photo of Jalen Brunson: Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)
