What If: Knicks Star Nearly Ended Up in NBA Finals?
Before signing a four-year deal with the New York Knicks in 2022, Jalen Brunson helped lead Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals.
Fast forward to 2024, and things look a bit unexpected. Brunson looks like a top-10 NBA player, but despite leaving the Mavericks, the team still found a way to reach the NBA Finals.
While the Mavs trail the Boston Celtics 2-0 in their best-of-seven series, the question remains, would Dallas have made the Finals if the team kept Brunson?
Brunson was reportedly willing to sign a four-year, $55 million extension midway through his final season in Dallas, but the two sides ultimately couldn't put pen to paper.
"There was a chance. I really did want to stay in Dallas. I think before my fourth season in Dallas, we tried to extend our contract, and the most we could get was 4 years, $55 million. Obviously, I wanted to do that, I wanted to stay," Brunson said via BasketNews. "I thought I would be there for a long time. I liked my role there."
Had he stayed, Brunson and Doncic could have formed one of the most dynamic duos in the backcourt in the NBA. But it wasn't meant to be.
Instead, the Mavericks traded for Kyrie Irving the following season, giving Doncic a backcourt teammate that could take some of the pressure off of him. While things didn't work out last year months after Irving was traded, things have begun to click in their first season together as the Mavs have danced all the way to the Finals.
It's tough to tell if the Mavs would have had the same results if they kept Brunson. They certainly would have had more cap space to work with, which would have allowed Dallas to acquire more prestigious players on the open market. The Mavs paid Irving $41 million this season, which is nearly 75 percent of what Dallas would have paid Brunson over four years.
While Brunson wouldn't have posted the type of numbers he did with the Knicks the past two years, he might have gotten pretty close.
Given how weird the Western Conference was this year, there's reason to believe Brunson, Doncic and a supporting cast would have found a way to get past the LA Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves to meet the Celtics in the Finals.
However, Knicks fans are thankful that it ended up shaking out the way it did.
JEREMY BRENER
Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager for several Fan Nation websites. His work has also been featured in 247 Sports and SB Nation as a writer and podcaster. Brener has been with Fan Nation since 2021. Brener grew up in Houston, going to Astros, Rockets and Texans games as a kid. He moved to Orlando in 2016 to go to college and pursue a degree. He hosts "The Dream Take" podcast covering the Rockets, which has produced over 350 episodes since March 2020. Brener graduated in May 2020 from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. While at UCF, Brener worked for the school's newspaper NSM.today and "Hitting the Field," a student-run sports talk show and network. He was the executive producer for "Hitting the Field" from 2019-20. During his professional career, Brener has covered a number of major sporting events including the Pro Bowl, March Madness and several NBA and NFL games. As a fan, Brener has been to the 2005 World Series, 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 NCAA National Championship between the Villanova Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels. Now, Brener still resides in the Central Florida area and enjoys writing, watching TV, hanging out with friends and going to the gym. Brener can be followed on Twitter @JeremyBrener. For more inquiries, please email jeremybrenerchs@gmail.com.