Jalen Brunson reportedly ‘definitely considered’ signing team-friendly contract extension

Jalen Brunson already has one of the most team-friendly contracts in the NBA, and he may choose to keep that.

Brunson is entering the third year of a four-year, $106 million contract he signed as a free agent in 2022.

He has since become an All-Star, an All-NBA guard and an MVP candidate – a top-15 player that no one saw coming.

Brunson is eligible for a contract extension this summer. An extension for Brunson would be worth about four years, or $156 million, a significant increase over his current deal but far less than what he could make as a free agent. If Brunson opted out of his contract after the 2024-25 season and re-signed with the Knicks, he could earn about five years, or $270 million.

Newsday’s Steve Popper previously reported that Brunson was “willing” to sign such an extension.

Today, The Athletic’s Fred Katz reports on his “Katz and Shoot” podcast that Brunson is “definitely considering” signing the deal.

“Everything I was told, everything Popper had, was completely false, that Jalen Brunson was really considering signing the extension and taking a lot less money,” Katz said on the podcast.

Katz said that beyond Brunson’s ability to secure the money now, the 27-year-old point guard could sign the extension because of the flexibility it could give the team in the future. The NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement is much stricter on teams that spend more and creates a system where every dollar counts.

“He understands this whole cap thing that we’ve talked about and how restrictive these rules are and how difficult it is, going into the second apron or well beyond the second apron,” Katz said. “And he wants to help the Knicks get more cap flexibility … When your best player is making way less than the max, it opens up opportunities down the line.”

Brunson is a small guard who is coming off a tedious season in which he had to carry the Knicks offense for long stretches. He may want the security of another long-term deal to secure a big raise now.

Another option could be for Brunson to sign a three-year extension, which would take him through the summer of 2028. At that point, he would have been in the NBA for 10 years, which would allow him to sign the biggest maximum contract possible. And he would do so in a rising salary cap environment, thanks to the NBA’s impending new television deal.

As Spotrac’s Keith Smith reportedIf the salary cap increases as planned, by 2028-29 the starting salary on a maximum contract should be $72 million.

The Knicks can extend the deal on July 12. If they can lock up their All-NBA guard at another below-market rate, it would mark the offseason as a win for New York no matter what.