As the New York Knicks prepare for their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999, new details have emerged regarding failed 2022 trade discussions between the Knicks and the Dallas Mavericks involving star guard Jalen Brunson before he eventually signed in free agency later that offseason.
According to The Athletic’s Fred Katz, Dallas and New York engaged in trade talks ahead of the 2022 NBA trade deadline after concerns grew within the Mavericks organization that the Knicks were positioning themselves to aggressively pursue Brunson once free agency opened.
Katz reported that Dallas viewed New York as the franchise’s primary competition for Brunson, particularly because of the longstanding relationships between the Brunson family and several key Knicks figures.
“As the 2022 trade deadline approached, murmurs reached Dallas that the Knicks were on the verge of hiring Brunson’s father, Rick, as an assistant for head coach Tom Thibodeau, the same role Rick had held in Thibodeau’s two previous stops with the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves,” Katz wrote Monday. “The relationships in New York already existed. Knicks president Leon Rose was Rick’s agent and the Brunsons’ closest family friend.”
Katz also noted Brunson’s familiarity with Thibodeau stretched back to childhood.
“Jalen had known Thibodeau for so long that he could not recall the first time the two met because, whenever it happened, he was literally too young to form memories.”
At the time, the Mavericks believed New York’s projected salary cap situation could complicate a free-agent pursuit for Brunson during the upcoming offseason. That belief prompted Dallas to explore the possibility of negotiating a trade directly with the Knicks before risking losing Brunson for nothing months later.
“So, the Mavs made a call,” Katz wrote.
“Not long before the 2022 trade deadline, they and the Knicks began negotiations on a deal that would have brought Brunson to New York, league sources told The Athletic.”
Mavericks wanted picks in failed Jalen Brunson talks with Knicks
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According to Katz, multiple frameworks were discussed during negotiations. The Mavericks reportedly showed interest in several young Knicks players, including Immanuel Quickley and Quentin Grimes.
“One included young bench guard Immanuel Quickley. Another incorporated promising rookie Quentin Grimes,” Katz wrote. “Numerous other iterations emerged. But across all of them was one common denominator: The Mavericks wanted first-round picks.”
More specifically, Dallas reportedly sought the return of its own future first-round selections that had previously been sent to New York in the controversial 2019 Kristaps Porzingis trade.
“But in hindsight, the deal gave the Knicks an element that would define one of the NBA’s most unlikely turnarounds: flexibility,” Katz wrote. “And in this moment in 2022, with most of the front office that dealt away Porziņģis gone, with Rose and company running the show, and with the Mavericks on the phone, it had given them leverage.”
“Dallas had delivered the Knicks two first-round picks for Porziņģis. And it wanted at least one of those in return for Brunson, league sources said.”
Katz added that the Mavericks believed the Knicks would eventually need to attach draft compensation anyway to clear enough cap space for Brunson in free agency.
“The Mavericks made a reasonable argument to the Knicks,” Katz wrote. “Because New York projected to be over the cap, it would need to unload tens of millions of dollars in salary to sign Brunson in the upcoming summer. The Mavs had determined it wouldn’t be able to do so without unloading a first-rounder or two.”
“The Knicks, they figured, might as well give up those picks now while also guaranteeing that they secure their top target.”
But New York refused to part with the draft compensation, and no deal materialized before the deadline.
Brunson ultimately signed with the New York Knicks as a free agent during the 2022 offseason, a move that has since transformed the franchise. He has led New York to consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearances and now has the organization four wins away from its first NBA championship since 1973.
The Knicks’ current Finals run has further elevated Jalen Brunson’s standing across the league, particularly after New York completed a sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals earlier this week. The Knicks have now won 11 consecutive playoff games, including closeout victories over the Atlanta Hawks by 51 points in the first round, the Philadelphia 76ers by 30 points in the second round and Cleveland by 37 points in the conference finals.
As the New York Knicks prepare for their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999, new details have emerged regarding failed 2022 trade discussions between the Knicks and the Dallas Mavericks involving star guard Jalen Brunson before he eventually signed in free agency later that offseason.