Mark Cuban opens up about losing Jalen Brunson to the Knicks
Jalen Brunson’s breakout season with the New York Knicks has unsurprisingly shifted attention to his departure from the Dallas Mavericks.
Brunson chose to leave the Mavericks at the start of free agency on a four-year, $104 million deal with the Knicks. However, the focus has been on Dallas’ inability to ink Brunson a four-year, $56 million deal last January, months before he hit free agency.
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Team owner Mark Cuban has strongly disputed that the franchise even had the opportunity to secure the rising star point guard to a deal. Cuban went as far as to state that the team had no chance to negotiate with Brunson due to his father’s involvement in the process.
“We didn’t know what the bid was,” Cuban said via ESPN. “They never gave us a number. Knowing the numbers now, I would’ve paid it in a heartbeat, but he wouldn’t have come anyway. There’s just no possible way that it was about money.
“I mean, there was no negotiation. They didn’t give us a number. I mean, you would think that when you’re the incumbent team and you can match anything, that’s the way it works. Right? You have a relationship with the agent and they want to at least give you a chance because you helped develop the player. You had him for four years. OK, let’s work together.”
Read: Luka Doncic Won’t Sit If Mavericks Are Still In Playoff Contention
The ship has sailed on that scenario, leaving the Mavericks in a desperate spot of attempting to navigate toward keeping star forward Luka Doncic happy and committed. The next biggest chip is seeing whether Kyire Irving should remain in the future plans given how poorly things played out since his arrival before the All-Star break.
