When asked about Jalen Brunson’s pending free agency and potential trade market, Begley stated the Knicks ‘have at least touched base’ with the Mavericks about Brunson. Begley also mentioned there’s at least one more team willing to make him an offer ‘north of $20 million’ in free agency. “Jalen Brunson, for many different reasons, has been on the Knick radar for a while now. He’s got plenty of connections to the Knicks. So I know the Knicks, at the very least, have touched based with Dallas on Brunson and I can’t tell you what it would take to pry Brunson from Dallas from a Knick perspective. I’m not sure on that.
More on Jalen Brunson Trade?
But I do know he's a highly sought after player and if he does hit unrestricted free agency, I can say pretty confidently there's at least one other team prepared to give him an offer north of $20 million per year. So it's an interesting situation with Dallas. Is Dallas prepared to pay him that kind of money? How do they see that salary fitting in with the rest of the money they will owe the rest of the players on the roster including obviously Luka Doncic?"
Scotto: I’ve heard Jalen Brunson has some admirers in Detroit. They have cap space and are a team to keep an eye on towards the summer. If Dallas is able to enter the mix for Jerami Grant and acquire him, don’t be surprised if either Brunson or Finney-Smith is involved in a trade package. If Dallas is going to part with either player, they’re going to want an asset that helps them win now.
Complicating matters is that the Mavericks’ most tradeable players, i.e. the players who sources say are generating the most interest around the league, are Jalen Brunson and Dorian Finney-Smith, who are in the final years of their respective contracts.
The Mavericks still haven’t afforded former Villanova point guard Jalen Brunson a contract extension and he has made another leap this season. As The Post has reported multiple times, the Knicks have had Brunson on their radar. Brunson’s father is Rick Brunson — Leon Rose’s initial client when he started his sports agency business out of Cherry Hill, N.J. Thibodeau has had the elder Brunson on his staff for years before he rejoined the Knicks. With “T-Day’’ approaching in 3 ¹/2 weeks, the Mavericks are certainly capable of moving Brunson before the 2018 second-round pick becomes an unrestricted free agent. The Knicks already contacted the Mavericks sometime in the past about Brunson, an NBA source said. “They want him bad,’’ the NBA source said.
Dallas has been trying to get into the trade mix for Myles Turner or John Collins. Jalen Brunson and Dorian Finney-Smith, two low-salaried but highly rated Mavericks headed for unrestricted free agency this summer barring contract extensions by June 30, have no shortage of suitors.
Now it’s up to Dallas’ new coach, Jason Kidd, to decide whether Brunson, a second-round pick out of Villanova, is the guy to build around and lock in long term. The Mavericks will exercise his team option for next season and can offer him an extension. If Kidd lowballs him, Brunson will decline and the Mavericks will be forced to trade him or risk losing Brunson to 2022 free agency. The Knicks have Brunson on their radar.
The Dallas Mavericks received calls before the March 25 trade deadline regarding backup guard Jalen Brunson, but they were not interested in dealing the ex-Villanova star. ESPN's Brian Windhorst relayed that news on his Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast (h/t RealGM Wiretap). "By the way, I heard that around the trade deadline the Mavericks got some calls about Jalen Brunson. And it basically like 'Luka's obviously untouchable and Jalen is pretty much untouchable. If you're going to offer LeBron, we'll listen.' "He's being viewed as a foundational core piece going forward."
