Analyst: Knicks' Jalen Brunson Avoided Worst-Case Scenario

Fox Sports talking head Nick Wright offered a perplexing take on Jalen Brunson's new contract extension.

Apr 20, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) reacts after not getting a call in the first quarter during game one of the first round for the 2024 NBA playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports / Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Nick Wright feels like New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson's latest score comes not from, say, Donte DiVincenzo or Josh Hart.

The latest hot take from the Fox Sports commentator centers on Brunson's highly-publicized contract extension with the Knicks, one that has been lauded as selfless and future-orientated with its immediate nature. Had Brunson waited until next summer sign the extender, the Knicks would've owed him nine further figures at $113 million.

Like Knicks rival and Fox Sports colleague Paul Pierce, Wright believes there's a little more than meets the transactional eye.

“I don’t view it purely as taking a discount if the contract we’re talking about is not actually available to you until you play another year of basketball," Wright declared. "I look at it as Jalen Brunson hedging against catastrophic outcomes while maintaining ultimate long-term upside."

Apr 20, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) reacts after not getting a call in the first quarter during game one of the first round for the 2024 NBA playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports / Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Wright further compared Brunson's gambit to the NBC game show "Deal or No Deal," where contestants pick a case containing a certain dollar amount (up to $1 million) before eliminating otherr amounts in a turn-by-turn fashion, all while an ominous "banker" attempts to buy the original choice from them.

"There's four suitcases left and what is on the board is $10, $100,000, $250,000, and a million," Wright explained, channelin his inner Howie Mandel. "What they are saying to you is that you can get rid of the $10 one but we are also taking away the $250,000 one. So the ultimate goal will still be available to you and you remove all the significant downside. But, in order to do that, you are moving the second-best outcome here, quarter of a million bucks."

"What he did by doing this was remove the worst outcome possible entirely and removed the second-best outcome: locking in a medium outcome and still keeping the upside of the best possible outcome."

What Wright neglects to mention in his circular argument is that the Knicks, seemingly armed with a lengthier window of contention, have chance to extend it thanks to Brunson's sacrifice. Most of the major Brunson sidearms (i.e. DiVincenzo, Hart, OG Anunoby) are locked up for the relative long-term and the point guard's financial assist affords them another big move or two in the immediate future (i.e. a contract extension for Julius Randle).

As it stands, Brunson has thrust the Knicks back into the mainstream discussions of NBA contention: in a year decimated by metropolitan injury, Brunson pushed the Knicks to 50 wins and the second seed on the Eastern Conference playoff bracket, reaching both plateaus for the first time since 2013.

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