Jalen Brunson reveals the Mavericks refused to offer him a four-year $55m extension TWICE before he eventually left Dallas to join the New York Knicks

Jalen Brunson has reaffirmed his claims that the Dallas Mavericks refused to offer him a contract extension on two separate occasions before he left the team as a free agent.

Brunson previously said bleach report In March, the Mavericks decided not to offer him a four-year, $55 million extension that he would have accepted to stay in Dallas.

Instead, he joined the New York Knicks and has performed excellently this season, earning his first NBA All-Star selection.

He recently repeated the statement during an episode of ‘All the smoke’ with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes.

“I really wanted to stay in Dallas,” Brunson said to the surprise of many during the podcast appearance.

“I wanted to stay there, I thought I would be there for a long time and I liked my role there. It’s funny because my agent told me, ‘You can do a lot, you can achieve more, you can achieve more.’ I’m saying, ‘Well, I want to be around except”.

‘I’m not trying to bet right now. This is not something to really play with if it exists. But [the Mavericks] They said, “We want to see where we are after 20 or 25 games into the season.” We were like, “Okay, well, if you’re not going to do it, I don’t want to do it until after the season. I’m not trying to think about this.” [during the season]”.

‘So there was a period when Luka [Doncic] I went out and started to start. He was playing very well, I think he was averaging 20 and six, maybe, whatever. It was about that 20-, 25-[game] brand.

And then we came back and thought, “Hey, if the deal is there, we’re thinking about it. I’ll do it right now.” Still, it was no. It wasn’t a hard no, it was like, “We want to see, we want to see.”

Brunson went on to say that he ended up thinking he was going to be traded due to the lack of an extension and when the Mavericks tried to get him back with the offer it was too late.

“I thought, ‘No, I think I’m over it,'” Brunson said. “Personally, that’s what I thought.”

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had a different take on things last year and subsequently claimed that Brunson and his representation never gave Dallas a chance to match the four-year, $104 million contract he signed. All-Star signed with the Knicks.

“Knowing the numbers now, I would have paid it in a heartbeat, but he wouldn’t have come anyway,” Cuban said. ESPN.

The month before Brunson signed with the Knicks, New York had hired his father Rick as an assistant coach after previously working under head coach Tom Thibodeau in 2016 with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

When Rick was a player, he was represented by Knicks team president Leon Rose, who also happens to be Brunson’s godfather.

In December 2022, the NBA penalized the Knicks by stripping them of a 2022 second-round pick after saying they manipulated Brunson by having conversations before the official start of free agency.

Brunson also weighed in on Cuban during the conversation when he said, “So he says that in an interview, whatever, literally right after the game,” Brunson told Jackson and Barnes.

‘So I’m thinking, “Okay.” After that, it was like crickets. From my point of view (I can’t talk to anyone else or my agent), from my point of view, it was the crickets.”

“That” Brunson was referring to was a clip of Cuban’s X saying, “We can pay you more than anyone else.” And I think he wants to stay, and that’s more important.”

Brunson earned his first All-Star nod this season due to his fantastic play and has averaged 27.6 points and 6.5 assists per game. He also participated in the 3-point contest.