Jalen Brunson bio, team, free agency news update

Jalen Brunson is an American professional basketball player who is currently playing for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA.

Brunson is 6 foot, one inches tall, a left-handed player, and weighs in at around 190 lbs. He is the son of Rick and Sandra Brunson and has a sister Erica hailing from New Jersey.

He was born on August 31st, 2006 in New Jersey and played high school basketball in Lincolnshire, Illinois. He previously played college basketball for Villanova University where he was the National Player of the Year as a junior and won two national championships.

He has represented his country at The World U19 World Cup in Greece, and at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship back in 2015 where he won MVP of the tournament as his notoriety gained pace. Based on this performance, he was awarded the USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year in December 2015.

Brunson has improved even more since then, progressing from solid backup to 2020-21 Sixth Man of the Year finalist to second-best player for a Dallas team that earned home-court advantage in the first round.

Break out star Brunson has just completed an excellent third season with the Dallas Mavericks and registered an impressive 12.6 points and 3.5 assists per game. He was the 33rd overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft and holds some impressive averages of 10.1 points, 3.3 assists, and 2.7 rebounds per game in 198 games including 66 starts at his Dallas home.

Brunson has impressed on court alongside Luka Dončić and has been even more impressive when Dončić has been out, taking charge on his own showing he could take over without him. Dallas winning two games, thanks to Brunson while Dončić was out with a calf injury something which couldn’t have been predicted in NBA betting.

Who does he play for?

Brunson currently plays for the Dallas Mavericks but it looks like he’ll be moving somewhere else very soon, with the New York Knicks believed to be the team which is most likely to land the player, despite having no cap space currently.

Who are the Dallas Mavericks?

The Dallas Mavericks were formed back in 1946 and have won just one championship, back in 2011 and like most expansion teams, struggled during their first few seasons in the NBA.

They get their name from the 1957–1962 television western Maverick, a name voted for by fans, beating the other choices of the Dallas Wranglers and the Dallas Express hands down. The current Mavericks logo features a wild horse (a Maverick), said to align with the personality of the team.

Where could Brunson move to?

According to reports, the Knicks are looking to offload some of their senior players to make room for new blood, which they’re hoping to include Brunson.

They are said to be looking to move on high-earning players such as Kemba Walker, Nerlens Noel, and Alec Burks, and a sign and trade move is also being mooted by the New York outfit, but Dallas are said to be reluctant to consider such a deal.

Who are The Knicks?

The New York Knicks are also a professional basketball team who play in the NBA. They are thought to be one of the most lucrative franchises in American basketball. Their full name is the New York Knickerbockers but sensibly go by their shortened moniker of The Knicks.

The team plays its home games at Madison Square Garden, an arena they share with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). They also share New York with the Brooklyn Nets who also play in the NBA.

Could The Knicks Sign Brunson?

The Knicks, who could easily give Brunson the opportunity to be their full-time primary ball-handler, need to offload some of their higher salaries to free up the flexibility to sign him but could easily create $20 million or more in cap space.

League sources say the Mavericks have no intention of co-operating in potential sign-and-trade scenarios, so any move would be complicated and seemingly one-sided.

The move which could take him closer to where he made his name, may or may not materialize as everything is up in the air at the moment, but Knicks remain favorites.

Brunson’s father told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon: “We’ve got to figure out if Dallas wants him. Not words. Ain’t no discount, so don’t put it on us. Don’t tell me you love me. Show me…”

During the earlier months of Leon Rose’s tenure as team president of the Knicks, they could have landed him via a trade but passed up the opportunity, a move which seems pretty bad at this point and something which The Knicks clearly regret.

It is thought there had been no offer to retain the services of Brunson by the Mavericks as yet. A $55m contract was said to have been talked about, both at the start, and middle of the season, but no concrete offer materialized, alerting other clubs to him possibly being available at the end of the season.

Brunson is currently making almost $2m in his final rookie season, but is refusing to comment on his next move: “My family knows that I don’t want to talk about it until the season’s over. That’s really not going to help me right now. I know it’s a weird situation. People don’t believe that I don’t talk about it, but it’s not a topic of conversation until I guess we get there…”

It’s thought the player could still command anything up to $25m per season, easily $20m. The Mavericks would still be able to secure his services for 5 more years, while other, new sides would only be able to tie him down for 4.

Alongside the Knicks, The Detroit Pistons are also said to be watching Brunson, but at this point, it looks like he may stay with the Mavericks, but who knows? Watch this space!