Knicks Sign Jalen Brunson
The Knicks have signed their next guard Jalen Brunson. He has agreed to a four year, $104 million deal.
Jalen Brunson's deal with the Knicks is for four years, $104 million, his agents tell @wojespn.
— ESPN (@espn) July 1, 2022
The deal includes a player option on the final season. pic.twitter.com/IQygy0vb4F
Brunson leaving Dallas for New York has been anticipated for some time now. Before Brunson signed to New York his representatives informed Dallas he intended to sign with the Knicks. The Knicks have family ties to Brunson as his dad Rick is an assistant coach for the Knicks.
Brunson is coming off a breakout season with Dallas. He averaged 16.3 points and 4.8 assists per game. The Knicks are hoping Brunson can come in and change things around for them. Over the last nine seasons the Knicks have not won a playoff series. They were in the playoffs during the 2020-2021 season where they lost to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round.
Brunson helped the Mavericks to the Western Conference finals for the first time in 11 years. The first three games of the playoffs their star Luka Doncic was not available but Brunson held it down. In two of those games he had 41 points and 31 points and averaged 21.6 points per game in the playoffs.
Brunson has shown he can carry a team for a little bit and has shown he can be a no. 2 on a good team. The real question is can he become who the Knicks have paid him to be? The Knicks didn’t give him this much money to be a no. 2. He will have to be ready to become the face of the franchise immediately if this thing will work in any sort of way.