The modern superstar athlete is known to accrue as lucrative of a contract as possible, to top figures never before seen in their sports.
That’s the antithesis of what Knicks MVP candidate Jalen Brunson elected to do, though.
On Friday, the Knicks announced a contract extension with Brunson, reported to be a four-year, $156.5 million deal that starts during the 2025-26 season.
The key catch: Brunson could have received a five-year deal worth $270 million next summer.
Instead, he will save the Knicks $37.1 million in cap space over the next 10 years.
However, a player option in the fourth year of the deal worth $43.3 million could catalyze a four-year, $323 million extension during the 2027 offseason, which ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski posits would be equivalent to the money Brunson forwent.
SNY’s Ian Begley was the first to report that Brunson was leaning toward choosing the cheaper option in late June.
With an average annual salary of $39.1 million, Brunson would rank 32nd in the league, behind even secondary options like Darius Garland and Pascal Siakam — not to mention his New York teammate O.G. Anunoby, who inked a five-year, $212.5 million extension to stay with the Knicks in June.
“While there is an inherent risk of injury and unforeseen complications that come with Brunson’s decision to push back his most lucrative NBA paydays, his priority remains to maximize the prime of his career with the franchise’s most talented and deepest roster since the 1990s,” Wojnarowski wrote.
Posting a career-best 28.7 points and 6.7 assists per game in 2023-24, Brunson made his first All-Star team, finished fifth in MVP voting and guided the Knicks to their third Eastern Conference Semifinals appearance since 2012.
All told, Brunson concluded the season eighth in win shares but is selflessly choosing to be compensated for tremendously less value.
Among the top-five scorers in the NBA last year, Brunson would be one of two to not make at least $43 million per season, joining the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Wojnarowski reported that Brunson reviewed the contracts of Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady and Derek Jeter in order to see a “blueprint for MVP-level players who structured contracts to give their teams the best chances at sustainable title runs.”
For context, Mahomes signed a 10-year, $503 million extension with the Chiefs in 2020, which was restructured this March to free up $21.6 million.
Although the deal was then the most prodigious in sports history, Mahomes is now tied for ninth among NFL players in AAV, being surpassed this offseason alone by Trevor Lawrence and Jared Goff.
Knicks president Leon Rose has already been proactive in not only retaining pieces, but also upgrading the team’s roster — namely trading for forward Mikal Bridges and keeping Anunoby.
With Brunson tethered to the Knicks for at least the next five seasons, Rose & Co. should have additional room to maneuver to build a sustainable Eastern Conference — if not Finals — contender.
