Jalen Brunson is the face of the New York Knicks and puts the team in a position to return to the playoffs once again for the second consecutive year. Only this time, the Knicks have a real chance to make a deep playoff push thanks to their depth and Brunson’s successful, MVP-like campaign.
While Julius Randle was ruled out for the rest of the year due to right shoulder surgery, Brunson kept the Knicks afloat. He is currently ranked fourth in scoring this season and is looking to take the Knicks from the fifth seed, where they currently sit, to possibly up to the second seed in the East before the regular season concludes on April 14. Regardless of how this season and the postseason play out for the Knicks, Brunson will enter the offseason with some slight question marks regarding his future.
When Brunson joined the Knicks in 2022, he signed a four-year, $104 million contract that declines in value over the first three years of the deal. Obviously exceeding the value he was given when he first signed with New York, Brunson will be eligible for a four-year, $156.5 million contract extension with the Knicks starting July 12, according to Bobby Marks, ESPN front office insider. However, he will not be eligible for Super Max, regardless of whether he makes an All-NBA team, because he entered the organization as a free agent.
The fact of the matter is that the Knicks will want to keep Brunson for the foreseeable future, and the first-time All-Star shouldn’t have much reason to want to leave New York. This is why the idea of Brunson getting a new extension in the offseason is something the two sides will almost certainly discuss. In fact, it already seems that there is mutual interest in a possible contract extension of the 27-year-old.
“I’ve heard rumors that Brunson is open to discussions about doing [an extension] this summer,” Newsday Sports’ Steve Popper said on SNY’s The Putback with Knicks and Brooklyn Nets reporter Ian Begley.