Why Knicks fans should expect team-first Jalen Brunson to sign extension this offseason

Jalen Brunson had a career-high 519 assists last season. His first one for 2024-25 may come on July 12.

Brunson is eligible for an extension on that day, for as long as four years and as much as $156 million. If he forgoes the extension, Brunson will be eligible for a five-year, $270 million contract in the 2025 offseason.

Obviously, Brunson’s extension would give the Knicks immense financial flexibility. And I believe Brunson will listen openly to the Knicks on a possible extension when the time comes.

If Brunson agrees to it, this would be yet another example of the player putting the Knicks’ financial flexibility ahead of his own.

Brunson is currently in Year 3 of a four-year, $104 million contract that descends in value. So his current deal gives the Knicks more cap flexibility over the course of the contract. Brunson’s descending contract also decreases the starting salary of his next deal. Meaning he’s already sacrificed financially to help the Knicks.

Under the extension, the Knicks would pay Brunson $113.1 million between 2025-26 and 2027-28. If he were to sign a max contract in 2025, the Knicks would pay Brunson $150.6 million between 2025-26 and 2027-28. That $37 million savings would loom large for New York as it tries to navigate the financial limitations of the new collective bargaining agreement.

If the Knicks’ team salary exceeds the second apron, it would severely limit their options to add players.

Beginning in 2024-25, teams over the second apron lose access to any midlevel exception. They also are prohibited from combining multiple player salaries in a trade. In other words, if you want to trade for a player making $20 million, you have to trade one player making roughly the same salary in order to make the deal work.

Second-apron teams also can’t send cash to help get deals over the finish line or trade their first-round pick seven years into the future. If a team then remains in the second apron for two of the next four seasons, its first-round pick seven years out won’t just be frozen, it will automatically be moved to the end of that first round — or the 30th pick.

May 2, 2024;…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-knicks-fans-expect-team-111821691.html

Author : SNY

Publish date : 2024-06-20 11:18:21

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