Jalen Brunson defends dad Rick as NBA investigates Knicks coach’s promotion

PHOENIX — Jalen Brunson didn’t want to comment on the NBA looking into his father’s promotion and contract as a potential salary-cap circumvention, but the point guard certainly had a message to anybody questioning Rick Brunson’s coaching credentials. 

“He’s more than qualified for that position,” Jalen Brunson said Wednesday morning. 

“He’s a person who has been around the NBA for a long time, who has been around [Tom Thibodeau] for longer than he’s been around the NBA. I think he understands the business, I think he understands the game, I think he understands the head coach. So he’s more than qualified. Look at the way he’s taught me and raised me and how I’ve seen him impact others in all different levels of basketball — high school, college, pros.” 

Late Monday night, the Knicks issued a statement condemning the NBA for probing Rick’s promotion to lead assistant.

The assumption is the NBA was looking into the possibility of the pay raise being tied to Jalen taking a team-friendly contract extension in the same offseason.

If that were the case, there’s an argument it represents cap circumvention. 

But MSG Sports slammed the NBA’s concerns as “offensive,” noting that the previous top assistant, Johnnie Bryant, had vacated the position by going to Cleveland and that Rick Brunson, an NBA assistant for 10 seasons on five teams (including three with Thibodeau), “has done a tremendous job and will continue to do so.” 

“We see this as more harassment of the Knicks due to our opposition to certain NBA matters,” MSG Sports concluded in its statement, a reference to James Dolan persistently opposing commissioner Adam Silver. 

Jalen said the NBA hadn’t reached out to him about his father, although a league source said the Knicks were contacted.

A league spokesman declined to comment. 

Jalen has consistently called his father the most significant person to his basketball development, including a successful effort by Rick to turn his son left-handed, starting when he first played on a Little Tikes hoop. 

“He helped me work on my game since I told him I wanted to become a professional basketball player,” Jalen, a natural righty who shoots lefty, said. “Whether I was pissed off, happy, whatever, he always asked me before and after every workout, ‘Is this what you want to do for a living?’ And the answer was always, ‘Yes.’ 

“He pushes me every single day and he still does.” 

Rick has been an assistant in the NBA, the NCAA and a head coach at Camden High School, where he won the 2022 Tournament of Champions of New Jersey.

Before that, Rick was a journeyman NBA player for nine seasons, including three with the Knicks while Thibodeau was an assistant under Jeff Van Gundy. 

He was hired as a Knicks assistant the same season Jalen joined the team as a free agent in 2022.

Former Mavs owner Mark Cuban singled out Rick as the reason Jalen didn’t re-sign with Dallas, saying negotiations “went south when Rick took over.” 

Rick recently responded by saying the Mavericks chose not to re-sign his son when they had the opportunity and made “a business decision” to let him hit free agency. 

“I didn’t get involved; I’ve been involved,” the elder Brunson said. “It’s my son. …I’m a father first, then a coach.” 

After a 2022 NBA investigation into Jalen’s signing, the Knicks were found guilty of tampering and forced to relinquish a second-round pick. 

More recently, Rick was in the news for a verbal back-and-forth with Donte DiVincenzo, the former Knick who returned to the Garden in preseason with the Timberwolves.

Rick said the two quickly made amends.