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

[Jason Terry]

The Mavs made a stupid decision not locking up Brunson earlier on a cheaper contract. But this garbage takes the cake. Brunson isn't on the same level as a 6'7 two way wing who can handle the ball, I don't care what arbitrary numbers you want to throw up. He's not a superstar, he's not an all star. He's a well above average but not great player, who's undersized, highly exploitable on defense, and offensively, is at best an above average playmaker who doesn't make many advanced reads, and scoring wise lives in the mid range with only 3 attempts per game from 3, and only hits catch and shoot at a good percentage, meaning you can probably expect his percentages to drop when he gets less open 3's created for him and has to create them off the dribble himself, which he is just bad at.

I don't think he's a significant difference maker on the court, and his production can be pretty easily covered by Dinwiddie and Wood, if not Dinwiddie alone. If this team signs Dragic, Dinwiddie steps into his role and Dragic backfills, and at best I think we see a minor step back, but likely the teams performance doesn't miss a beat, maybe even continues the incline unhindered. We will see if that is the way it plays out, and if the team drops well down the rankings, I will admit I was wrong about his impact, but I don't think it will.

The biggest impact is losing Brunson the asset by far. I have no doubt that if the Mavs had done the right thing and signed Brunson to a reasonable contract when they could have, he would be the primary piece added in trade talks with teams for any impactful players that become available over the next few years. Because I think the Mavs rightly think his value is better used acquiring a player who would be a much better fit with Luka, than keeping Brunson long term (i.e. someone who plays well above average defense, or is not undersized and actually a true 3 level scorer). But they screwed that up, and they def deserve all the criticism thrown their way for it. But this overrating of Brunson the player is just over the top.

Well said. Brunson is highly overvalued at this point. He has a mid range and drive game. That’s it. He’s undersized and exploited defensively. Worth maybe half of his contract if he gets $30 million per. He’s less rare than a player like Dorian, so I’ve never seen the whole “2nd best player” thing 

From a team building standpoint we want different players. We want to fill the roster with long athletic two way players. Brunson and even Hardaway are outliers when you look at the talent we have been bringing in. Bullock, Dinwiddie, Hardy, Wood, Frank are what we’re looking for. Long wingspan to make it easier defensively 

The crime is definitely asset management and losing him for nothing. Nico and Mark will need to answer for this. You have to either 1) trade 2) extend or 3) have certainty you can lock up your own guys. We could’ve got a couple FRP’s or a player back at the deadline. Now, we are in a much worse spot to do what we need to do. Who even wants to play with Luka? Clock is ticking