BRUNSON BURNER: to NYK for 4yrs/$104M (no SnT) | NYK docked 2025 2nd for tampering

[F Gump]

I may be misremembering, but I thought there was a max they could offer using an extension and brunson would be able to make way more on the open market (even before his playoff surge).

I think the real mistake was giving him a contract without the usual option that would allow him to be a RFA this season instead of a UFA.

At least, that's what my (often faulty) memory is telling me.

Your memory is correct.

An extension for Brunson was limited to the same type of deal that DFS ended up taking. The starting salary could only be 105% of the average salary for 2022, which gets defined at the end of the 2021-22 NBA year. Last summer, that number was projected to land at about 10.5M or maybe 11.0M. (Revenues have grown, so now that number looks like it will be about 12.5M.)

Also coming into play last summer, and even well into the season, was the question of what JB was worth. Was Brunson, who had just been played off the floor in the playoffs and was thought to be backup-caliber at best, even going to be worth keeping at that 10.5M or so? It was debated. It's easy to forget that he has come so far so quickly.

As for whether the Mavs messed up on the original deal, it's hard to say. If they knew then what they know now, then of course. But what he got (4 years at the minimum, with year 4 a team option) was the "going rate" for players picked at that point in that draft (Mitchell Robinson, for example, got the EXACT same deal.) The Mavs did get the benefit of 4 cheap years, if he worked out.

Let's also admit that as iffy as it looked in Dallas for him last summer, with him stuck behind Luka and sucking in the playoffs, maybe someone with a PG opening decides to take a strong run at him. Are we sure the Mavs would have matched? It's only this season where he's emerged.