Knicks Sign All-Star To Stunning New Contract Discount: Report

New York Knicks All-NBA point guard Jalen Brunson is essentially agreeing to a massive discount on the deal that will take him through the rest of his anticipated prime, in an apparent effort to abet his club’s roster-building.

The young All-Star’s agent at CAA, Sam Rose, informs Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN that Brunson is inking a four-season, $156.5 million contract extension to remain with the Knicks long-term. Brunson’s agent is the son of current New York president of basketball operations Leon Rose.

As Wojnarowski notes, his performance on his current deal (he initially inked a four-year, $104 million agreement with New York as a free agent in 2022, ditching the Dallas Mavericks fresh off a Western Conference Finals berth) would have made him worth far more on the open market, had he wanted to explore free agency.

The Villanova product likely would have fielded maximum-salary offers from other teams, which would have netted him a projected $269.1 million over five years, or an additional $113 million beyond this new extension that keeps him under contract through 2028-29. The fourth year of the deal is a player option, which will allow Brunson to potentially earn a significant raise in 2028.

The 6-foot-2 pro, 27, enjoyed a career year in 2023-24 for the 50-32 Knicks, the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed. Brunson averaged 28.7 points on .479/.401/.847 shooting splits, 6.7 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and 0.9 steals a night across 77 regular season games. For his efforts, Brunson received the fifth-most votes for the MVP award this past season.

He improved upon that robust output in the playoffs, averaging 32.4 points on a .444/.310/.775 slash line, 7.5 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 0.8 steals per appearance, across 13 games through two rounds. Though New York fell to the lower-seeded Indiana Pacers in a seven-game Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup, that was due in large part to ever-escalating injury issues to the Knicks, including Brunson, eventually. Brunson fractured his left hand in Game 7, and underwent surgery in May.

Brunson and fellow All-Star Julius Randle have served as the fulcrum for the Knicks’ offense for the past two seasons, propelling New York to a pair of second round postseason berths.

The Knicks have gone all-in on the Villanova connection this offseason, trading for 3-and-D swingman Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets to reunite Bridges with Brunson and their other two former NCAA champion colleagues, Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart.

Read more: Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo React to ‘Villanova Knicks’ in New York

New York also took pains to preserve another recently acquired core piece of its playoff run this summer, by inking unrestricted free agent combo forward OG Anunoby to a fresh five-year, $212.5 million deal.

It hasn’t all been a net-positive for the Knicks this summer, however, as they look to emerge as one of the top three teams in the East, along with the reigning champion Boston Celtics and the revamped Philadelphia 76ers. After signing Anunoby, New York was unable to bring back starting center Isaiah Hartenstein, who instead jumped ship to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the West’s No. 1 seed last year, on a three-season, $87 million deal.