Featured Columnist IVJuly 24, 2024
Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
Jalen Brunson famously signed a four-year, $156 million extension with the New York Knicks this summer, leaving $113 million on the table to offer the team salary flexibility moving forward.
It wasn’t the sort of move that everyone would have recommended, including Carmelo Anthony.
“I’m not doing it,” he said on Podcast P regarding the deal Brunson took. “… He’s making something [on the back end]. He should be making something, $113 million, to make that up on the back end is crazy. I don’t know the logic and the thinking behind why he did it. There has to be a reason, something very specific.”
Podcast P with Paul George @PodcastPShow
Carmelo found out Jalen Brunson took a $113m discount with the Knicks as we were recording the episode.
Here’s his reaction ⬇️ @ATT pic.twitter.com/WeCuLgyq7T
“It’s a lose-lose situation,” Anthony added. “If you leave money on the table, people got something to say. If you take the contract, people got something to say. So at the end of the day, it’s do what’s best for you. I think JB knows his situation. ‘I’ll take a discount to get my man, my brother on the team.’ He’s working with the Knicks. It’s a situation they’re going to figure out. He’s got more coming.”
Yes, he does. Had he waited a summer, Brunson would have been eligible for a five-year, $269 million deal. Doing the discounted extension now aided the Knicks in extending OG Anunoby and trading for Mikal Bridges (who will soon require an extension of his own) giving them wiggle room to construct a winning roster in the seasons to come.
It wasn’t purely altruistic, either. An incredibly massive payday looms on the horizon:
Spotrac @spotrac
Jalen Brunson “gave up” $37M over the next 4 seasons. He’s never getting that back.
What he did do is put himself in position to opt-out in 2028, then lock in an estimated 5 year, $417.8M extension.
So Brunson took the gamble on taking less money then he could in the short term to help the Knicks keep a contender in place, with the belief that an enormous contract would come down the line. The risk, of course, is injuries or declining play making the Knicks less incentivized to give him that deal when that time comes.
Brunson did what he felt was best for his career. Anthony—and likely many other players—probably would have opted for the safer option and the max deal next summer.
