2021-2022 ROSTER TALK: [ARCHIVED]

[Okstate819]

I assume you heard it? What was specifically said that makes you feel this way?

The New York Knicks are gaining major momentum in their bid to sign Jalen Brunson away from the Dallas Mavericks in free agency, league sources say.
Sources say that New York's ability during Thursday night's NBA Draft to offload Kemba Walker's $9.2 million salary for next season, coupled with a growing belief that it can shed further salary to expand its offer when the marketplace officially opens next Thursday, has established the Knicks as a very credible threat to bring Brunson to Gotham.
One source close to the process described that threat as “very, very, very real.”
The Knicks are increasingly expected to assemble a four-year offer to Brunson valued in the $100 million range, sources said, after the former second-round pick (No. 33 overall in 2018) played out the final season of his first NBA contract at $1.8 million in 2021-22. When the season ended, sources said, Dallas believed that a four-year offer ranging from $85-to-$88 million — similar to Fred VanVleet’s deal in Toronto — would likely secure Brunson’s signature.
Only the Mavericks, possessing Brunson’s Bird Rights as the incumbent team, have the ability to offer a five-year deal that could zoom well past $100 million. But further boosting New York's chances is a growing belief among some close to the situation that Brunson wants this move to Madison Square Garden despite his considerable rise in prominence as a Maverick and Dallas’ ability to outbid the Knicks, enticed by the opportunity to become New York's unquestioned lead guard on top of strong family ties.
Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose is not only Brunson's former agent but essentially regarded as a Brunson family member after breaking into the player representation business with Brunson's father, Rick, as his first client. The Knicks also recently struck a deal to hire Rick Brunson as a new assistant for coach Tom Thibodeau's staff. Father and son are extremely close, while Leon's son, CAA's Sam Rose, now operates as Brunson's day-to-day agent.

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The New York Knicks are gaining major momentum in their bid to sign Jalen Brunson away from the Dallas Mavericks in free agency, league sources say.
Sources say that New York's ability during Thursday night's NBA Draft to offload Kemba Walker's $9.2 million salary for next season, coupled with a growing belief that it can shed further salary to expand its offer when the marketplace officially opens next Thursday, has established the Knicks as a very credible threat to bring Brunson to Gotham.
One source close to the process described that threat as “very, very, very real.”
The Knicks are increasingly expected to assemble a four-year offer to Brunson valued in the $100 million range, sources said, after the former second-round pick (No. 33 overall in 2018) played out the final season of his first NBA contract at $1.8 million in 2021-22. When the season ended, sources said, Dallas believed that a four-year offer ranging from $85-to-$88 million — similar to Fred VanVleet’s deal in Toronto — would likely secure Brunson’s signature.
Only the Mavericks, possessing Brunson’s Bird Rights as the incumbent team, have the ability to offer a five-year deal that could zoom well past $100 million. But further boosting New York's chances is a growing belief among some close to the situation that Brunson wants this move to Madison Square Garden despite his considerable rise in prominence as a Maverick and Dallas’ ability to outbid the Knicks, enticed by the opportunity to become New York's unquestioned lead guard on top of strong family ties.
Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose is not only Brunson's former agent but essentially regarded as a Brunson family member after breaking into the player representation business with Brunson's father, Rick, as his first client. The Knicks also recently struck a deal to hire Rick Brunson as a new assistant for coach Tom Thibodeau's staff. Father and son are extremely close, while Leon's son, CAA's Sam Rose, now operates as Brunson's day-to-day agent.

Losing Brunson without compensation would be a mammoth blow for Dallas on numerous levels, starting with its obvious lack of financial flexibility this offseason to replace the most accomplished member of Luka Dončić’s supporting cast as a team far over the salary cap. Over the past two seasons, Brunson has repeatedly illustrated that he had become the most reliable Maverick not named Dončić, despite being selected 30 picks after the All-NBA guard in the 2018 draft. Being able to land those two on the same day is second only to the acquisitions of Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash on June 24, 1998, in terms of draft-night bonanzas for a franchise that, for the bulk of the 21st century, has endured a string of draft disappointments. It is not yet known how far beyond New York’s projected $100 million total Dallas is willing to go to try to keep Brunson, how much a potential fifth contract year could sway him or if the Knicks would have a willingness to hash out sign-and-trade terms if the 25-year-old guard plainly informs Dallas that he wants to be a Knick. New York is on course to make its anticipated lucrative offer to Brunson without needing Dallas’ help via sign-and-trade.
The Mavericks had at least two chances, before last season and in January, to sign Brunson to a four-year contract extension valued just shy of $56 million, but they balked both times. Coming into the season, Dallas resisted on extensions for both Brunson and Dorian Finney-Smith, wanting to preserve maximum flexibility in case a trade emerged that required their inclusion. Rick Brunson told ESPN in April that he went back to the Mavericks in January to give them another chance to commit to the four-year deal worth $55.6 million, but Dallas again passed.
After the Mavericks sent former All-Star forward Kristaps Porziņģis to Washington on trade-deadline day (Feb. 10), Dallas quickly struck an agreement with Finney-Smith on a similar four-year extension. Yet it was clear by then that Brunson was no longer amenable to that deal, determined to wait for free agency and armed with the knowledge that the Knicks would chase him aggressively in the summer.