The worst kept secret this NBA offseason was that Jalen Brunson would land in New York. And, now, it looks like that will cost the Knicks.
In a recent conversation alongside Tim Cato, The Athletic’s Fred Katz reported that folks behind the scenes believe New York will receive a tampering penalty in the coming months:
People I talk to around the league expect the Knicks to get dinged for tampering. They started dumping salary for Brunson on draft night. They continued their offloading five days later, 48 hours before free agency even began. They had let go of almost $33 million by the time they could talk to Brunson. You reported two days before free agency that he was heading to New York.
Not only did the presence of Knicks’ executive William “World Wide Wes” Wesley at a Mavs playoff game raise eyebrows, but the hiring of Brunson’s father back in June felt like it paved the way for the Knicks’ pursuit. We also saw the organization recently trade Nerlens Noel and Alec Burks to Detroit – as well as their No. 11 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft – in an effort to keep their books clean to hand Brunson a hefty contract.
And multiple reporters did the Knicks’ front office no favors by suggesting *before free agency officially opened* that Brunson was in line to sign with the franchise:
The Knicks have cleared $30M in salary cap space to offer Dallas' Jalen Brunson in the neighborhood of a max contract. The unloading of assets and contracts clearly shows the Knicks' confidence that they can secure Brunson once free agency opens on Thursday.— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 29, 2022
Breaking: The Dallas Mavericks have been informed that Jalen Brunson intends to sign with the New York Knicks in free agency, sources told @espn_macmahon. pic.twitter.com/xQodZNjDc3— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 30, 2022
Free agent Jalen Brunson intends to sign a four-year, near $110M deal with the New York Knicks in free agency, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The Mavericks never received chance to make offer, sources said.— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 30, 2022
I think it’s fair to say Brunson’s decision to sign with New York had been even more public in the days leading up to free agency than what we saw between the Bulls and Ball last summer. Now, whether or not the more public nature of the conversations will lead to a more severe punishment is up for debate. But I think it’s obvious some sort of punishment is on the horizon, right? I mean, if the Bulls get a second-round pick stripped away for their chatter, then New York should *at least* face the same fate.
Announce the investigation, Adam Silver.
