Knicks News: Unlike LeBron James, Jalen Brunson’s $113 Million Sacrifice for ‘Nova Boys’ Could End New York’s 51-Year Drought

Just two years into his tenure in New York, Jalen Brunson has turned into a Knicks legend. Taking them from being the laughing stock of the league to legitimate title contenders, JB is surely one of the best free agent signings in recent memory. While his performance on the court continues to impress, Brunson won the Knicks fans’ hearts once again as he made a massive $113 million sacrifice yesterday by inking a four-year $156.5 million extension. But his heroic gesture, unlike the one by LeBron James, serves a bigger purpose as it could take the Knicks one step closer to the ultimate goal.

Yes, while Brunson’s new deal is in no way a small pay check, it does fall short when you find out that he could have signed a five-year $269 million deal had he waited another year to sign the extension. So, why did JB give up all that money? Well, to give the Knicks more flexibility to keep the roster intact and make moves to build a team that can win a Championship. While JB is guaranteed to lose $37.1 million for the first three years of his contract because of his sacrifice, that money can now be used in cap space by the Knicks to improve the roster.

And that is something the fans hoped even LeBron James would do to help the Lakers get back to title contention. When the Lakers were pursuing Klay Thompson and DeMar DeRozan in free agency, there were reports about LBJ willing to take a major pay cut on his new extension to save his team from the penalties of crossing the second apron of luxury tax and giving them enough cap space to sign a high-profile star. However, with Klay choosing Dallas over LA, LeBron eventually ended up sacrificing only $3 million of his initial $104 million expected deal and signed a two-year $101.3 million extension. And he did save the Lakers from crossing the second apron. But because Brunson’s sacrifice is significantly bigger than LeBron’s, the Knicks have a much better shot at building a Championship roster.

Mikal Bridges to follow in Jalen Brunson’s footsteps?

When LeBron took only a $3 million pay cut, speculations began that winning a title is no longer a priority for the 39YO. However, with Brunson’s sacrifice, he has made his intentions pretty clear as now the franchise can focus on ending their 51-year Championship drought. Moreover, with Mikal Bridges joining the team this summer, the Villanova Boys have finally reunited as Hart, Brunson, DiVincenzo, and Bridges are teammates once again years after winning multiple national titles in college. Maybe, winning a title with his best friends was more important to Brunson than the money he could have made.

And his sacrifice could set a precedent for the entire squad as now Mikal is also expected to follow in JB’s footsteps and take a pay cut on his next extension. As per Forbes Sports’ Evan Sidery, Bridges could also sacrifice a major chunk of money as he enters the third year of his $90 million contract this year and will be eligible for an extension soon. If he does so, the Nova Boys can stay teammates for years to come as the Knicks will have enough money to go around for all of them, and then some more to surround them with talented players who can help them bring a title to New York. So, Brunson’s sacrifice could be the beginning of a new era for the Knicks.