Knicks' Updated Roster, Salary Cap After Jalen Brunson's $104M Contract
June 30, 2022
Jalen Brunson is heading to the New York Knicks.
The veteran point guard agreed to a four-year, $104 million deal with the Knicks, Aaron Mintz and Sam Rose told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Below, we'll take a look at the team's updated roster and salary cap after the move.
Jalen Brunson, PG: Approximately $26M (2026)
Trevor Keels, SG/SF (Rookie Scale)
Julius Randle, PF: $29.2M (2026)
Evan Fournier, SG: $18.3M (2025)
Derrick Rose, PG: $14.5M (2024)
RJ Barrett, SF: $8.9M (2023)
Cam Reddish, SF: $5.9M (2023)
Taj Gibson, PF: $5.1M (2023)
Immanuel Quickley, SG $2.3M (2024)
Quentin Grimes, SG: $2.3M (2025)
Miles McBride, PG: $1.4M (2024)
Jericho Sims, C: 2-Way Contract (2023)
Feron Hunt, SF: 2-Way Contract (2023)
The Brunson signing is a fascinating piece of business from the Knicks.
On the one hand, the team desperately needed an upgrade at point guard, and Brunson—fresh off a career year that saw him average 16.3 points and 4.8 assists per game while shooting 50.2 percent from the field and 37.3 percent from three—will provide it.
On the other, does Brunson's signing really take the Knicks from being a fringe playoff team to an actual contender? And if the answer is no, was allocating that much of a financial commitment to him smart business?
Perhaps the Knicks have other potential moves in mind. Certainly, they'll at least inquire about Kevin Durant after his reported trade request Thursday (h/t Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium), though the Nets would likely want any trade package to begin with RJ Barrett.
And what if there aren't any splashy moves to be made? The Knicks are looking at a core group of Brunson, Barrett and Julius Randle, with some decent veterans (Evan Fournier, Derrick Rose) and intriguing younger players (Cam Reddish, Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley) sprinkled in.
In the current Eastern Conference—even with Brooklyn likely to have a much different roster soon—New York's roster still looks like a group that will likely be hanging around the play-in tournament, not the top of the conference.
That's the dreaded middle-of-the-pack in the NBA, a league in which teams tend to prefer either being fully in contention for titles or rebuilding around young players.
Again, the Knicks may have other moves up their sleeves. This roster might be a work in progress. And any concerns about their team-building strategy shouldn't be misconstrued as a criticism of Brunson, who is a very good NBA player.
The Knicks will be better with Brunson than without him. Whether that is good enough to help them emerge as a contender is the far bigger question.
Salary cap info via Spotrac unless otherwise noted.