Knicks Rumors: Jalen Brunson Contract Not Expected to Be Done in Mavs Sign-and-Trade

Jalen Brunson hasn't officially signed with the New York Knicks, and it appears his deal with the franchise will not be done in a sign-and-trade with the Dallas Mavericks, according to The Athletic's Fred Katz.

The Knicks intend to use cap space to sign Brunson outright, Katz added.

The news comes after NBA insider Marc Stein (h/t Hoops Hype) reported that Brunson's deal with the Knicks was unlikely to be signed before this weekend because he's still due in New York for his physical.

Stein added on Saturday night that Monday is the soonest Brunson will sign with the Knicks.

Brunson is expected to sign a four-year, $104 million deal with the Knicks, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported on June 30. The contract includes a player option for the final year of the deal.

The 25-year-old never even took a meeting with the Mavericks to discuss a new contract, and Katz previously reported that the Knicks are expected to be penalized for tampering.

"From what I’ve gathered, the Mavericks are quite frustrated with the Knicks — and not just because reports of a finished deal came out before New York was even allowed to speak with Brunson (though I am not sure how tampering rules account for father-son relationships, and this situation involves two of those). Dallas wasn’t thrilled about Knicks executive William 'World Wide Wes' Wesley showing up courtside to a Mavs-Jazz playoff game, either."

However, the NBA will not open up an investigation until the Mavericks or another team files a complaint. That said, it appears Mavs owner Marc Cuban isn't interested in filing tampering charges.

"That’s all the league stuff," Cuban said Friday, via Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. "That’s not for us to say. It’s up to them."

Cuban added, via Steve Popper of Newsday: "No hard feelings. I wish him nothing but the best. You bust your [butt], and you have that choice. He deserves it.

"It happens. It’s the way this league works. It’s a business. You trade a player; you say it’s a business. You lose a player. It’s a business. It’s just the way it goes."

The Mavericks previously failed to lock up Brunson last offseason and again before the 2021-22 season's trade deadline in February, and the Villanova product went on to have a breakout year.

Brunson averaged 16.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 79 regular-season games while shooting 50.2 percent from the floor and 37.3 percent from deep. He was even better in the playoffs, averaging 21.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 18 games while shooting 46.6 percent from the floor and 34.7 percent from deep.

The Knicks made signing Brunson a priority this summer, clearing a significant amount of cap space by trading Kemba Walker, Nerlens Noel and Alec Burks. The franchise's top need was a point guard, and it has finally found one in Brunson.

That said, there will be a lot of pressure on Brunson to succeed in New York, so it will be interesting to see how well he plays as a starting point guard instead of off the bench for Luka Doncic.