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

[KillerLeft]

We can argue about Playoff producer until the cows come home...but, imo as a casual, JB is very skilled and smart and worth way more than the 55m available.   I personally would have bet on myself too at that point.   Especially knowing you have Family in the Knicks organization that are influential to their decisions.  55m is a lot of money and I agree with you that some people would take the guarantee...but I think Jalens skills are way above the normal player that is in his type of position.

I totally agree with you here. 

I think if the Mavs had managed to get him on that 4/$55 million extension, that contract would be viewed today as a HUGE bargain, and we'd be heralding them for their foresight. And, I can absolutely get behind the idea that last off-season, and not in January, before the deadline, was probably the Mavs' last chance to get him locked in on that. 

Sidebar: ironically, had they done that last off-season, Brunson probably would've been more valuable at this past deadline, not less. 

Anyway, I think it's easy to get lost in the weeds of the "what ifs" in cases like this. But, at the end of the day, it's the Mavs front office types' job to guess right on those "what ifs." That might be an unreasonable standard, but they get paid a lot to make basketball their living, which is obviously a privilege, and that same unreasonable standard is hanging over the heads of every front office in the NBA. 

Personally, I just can't let them off the hook for allowing the worst possible scenario to play out with an asset on Brunson's level, even if we here decide the odds were against them reaching a better outcome. Beating those odds, when necessary, is their job, imo.