Derek Jeter, Patrick Mahomes Helped Knicks Keep Jalen Brunson

New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson took both a raise and a massive paycut when he signed his four-year extension on Friday.

While Brunson’s four-year, $156 million deal is higher than his current deal, Brunson left over $113 million on the table that he could have gotten if he had waited just one more year. Brunson took the paycut to help the Knicks acquire more talent and pay some of his deserving teammates, but he was very meticulous about it as well.

“Brunson’s study of championship organizations and franchise stars — Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs, the Tom Brady New England Patriots and the Derek Jeter New York Yankees — gave him a blueprint for MVP-level players who structured contracts to give their teams the best chances at sustainable title runs,” ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski writes.

The biggest difference between Brunson and the superstars above is that those players took new contracts and made sacrifices after their teams had won championships to become dynasties. Meanwhile, Brunson and the Knicks haven’t even made it to the Eastern Conference Finals together, and the franchise hasn’t made it to that point in the playoffs since the 1999-2000 season.

Brunson’s goals are different and he hopes under the lifespan of this deal that the fortunes will change, but it makes this bargain signing unprecedented. Sports hasn’t seen a deal quite like this where a player willingly gives up that much cash to try and win.

It solidifies Brunson’s status as one of the most popular sports figures in the 21st century, but at the end of the day, New York won’t care about his legacy if he doesn’t follow through on winning a championship.

The Knicks simply have to win a title now. Too much has been sacrificed by Brunson to come up short, and the Knicks will have to do whatever it takes to put him around the people that need to get him to the promised land.

If the Knicks come up short, it may go down as one of the biggest blunders in NBA and sports history.

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