NBA Trade: Way clear for Jalen Brunson

The New York Knicks will trade Nerlens Noel and Alec Burks to the Detroit Pistons. This also clears the way for Jalen Brunson, who the Knicks could now sign with Cap Space.

This is reported by Adrian Wojnarowski ESPN. The Noel and Burks trade saves the Knicks about $19 million in wages and now has enough room under the salary cap to offer Brunson a big deal. The Mavs Guard is said to be offering around $110 million over four years.

In addition to the two players, the Pistons will receive two future second-round picks and $6 million in cash for adding the players. It is the Knicks’ second trade with Detroit. On draft day, the New Yorkers sent Kemba Walker and the freshly drafted center Jalen Duren to Motown, among others. Noel (9.2 million) and Burks (10.0) both still have contracts until 2024, the last year each includes a team option.

All of these are clear signs, according to Woj, that Brunson will be joining the Knicks in the coming days. In theory, the Mavs could outbid the offer, but the Texans are only said to be offering a five-year, $85 million contract. This is comparable to the deal Fred VanVleet signed with the Toronto Raptors in 2020.

Dallas Mavericks could replace Brunson with Dragic

Brunson, who Dallas chose with the 33rd pick in 2018, averaged 16.3 points and 4.8 assists in the preseason and recorded 41 and 31 points in the series against the Utah Jazz, among others. The guard is an unrestricted free agent after his rookie contract expires because Dallas gave him a non-guaranteed fourth-year contract rather than a team option.

The 25-year-old declined an early contract extension for four years and 55 million after the trade deadline after Dallas waited too long with the offer, as Jalen’s father Rick Brunson, now an assistant coach in New York, said in an interview a few weeks ago ESPN betrayed.

Should Brunson actually leave Dallas, the Mavs could already have a successor on the line. According to insider Marc Stein (Substack) the Mavs then want to replace Brunson with Goran Dragic. The 36-year-old last played for the Brooklyn Nets and was traded in Dallas last year. The point guard is good friends with Luka Doncic, with whom he will play the World Cup qualifier and EuroBasket with Slovenia this summer.