Understanding Jalen Brunson’s Extension with the Knicks

Keith Smith
Keith Smith, Resident NBA ExpertJuly 12, 2024
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Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks signed a Veteran Extension to much hullaballoo. Brunson signed a four-year, $156.5 million extension. That was the maximum that Brunson was allowed to sign for at this moment.

It’s that last part that is the key: “at this moment”.

As has been reported, Brunson could have signed for more money had he waited and re-signed with the Knicks as a free agent a year from now. By now, you’ve probably read that Brunson gave up $113 million by extending with New York now.

But did Brunson really leave $113 million on the table?

Yes…well kind of…but not really.

Let’s break it down!

The Veteran Extension

Here’s what Jalen Brunson did sign for:

  • 2025-26: $34,944,001
  • 2026-27: $37,739,521
  • 2027-28: $40,535,041
  • 2028-29: $43,330,561 (Player Option)
  • Total: four years, $156,549,124

In Brunson’s case, he signed under the Veteran Extension rules. This allows for him to extend for 140% of his previous salary. To sign a four-year extension, Brunson declined his 2025-26 player option, so this extension is based off his current salary for 2024-25 of $24,960,001.

From there, Brunson can add four new years of salary with 8% raises off the first year. That’s how we get to figures above.

For now, we can assume that Brunson will opt out of his contract to become a free agent in 2028. That would allow him to sign for the 35% of the cap maximum, because he’ll have 10 Years of Service following the 2027-28 season. But more to come on that later!

Re-signing with New York in 2025

Here’s what Jalen Brunson could have signed for next summer:

  • 2025-26: $46,394,000
  • 2026-27: $50,105,628
  • 2027-28: $53,817,156
  • 2028-29: $57,528,684
  • 2029-30: $61,240,212
  • Total: five years, $269,085,780
  • This contract reflects the 30% of the cap max, with 8% raises for Brunson. Had he played out this upcoming season, opted out of his contract, this is the maximum amount he could have signed for in July of 2025.

Breaking down the differences

This is where things get interesting!

If you compare what Brunson did actually sign for vs what he could have signed for, you get a difference of roughly $112.5 million. So, that’s where that “Brunson gave up $113 million” line-of-thinking came from.

But it’s not really that simple.

If you’ve ever read one of our “Next Contract” pieces here on Spotrac, you know we try to present things in a lens of what a player could get by extending vs re-signing vs leaving for another team. In this case, we’re going to do it, but within the lens of Brunson extending vs re-signing with the Knicks.

We’re not going to pretend that it’s inaccurate to say Brunson left nearly $113 million on the table. Instead, we’ll say that’s a little misleading. Because the chances of Brunson ever getting to that $113 million number are pretty low.

Instead, let’s first look at a four-year vs four-year comparison:

  • Extending: four years, $156,549,124
  • Re-signing: four years, $207,845,568
  • Difference: $51,296,444

Already, we’ve cut the amount Brunson gave up by over half. This is much like why it’s not always a fair comparison to look at what a player can re-sign for with their own team vs what they can get by leaving for a new team. Only their own team can give them a fifth year. In this case, Brunson could only get a fifth year by delaying and re-signing next summer.

Now, let’s go a step further!

In Brunson’s new deal, he has a player option for Year 4 in 2028-29. It’s already been suggested that part of his motivation by extending vs re-signing was to get back into free agency in 2028. So, we’re going to assume he’ll opt out.

That means, the real comparison point here is Extension Years 1-3 vs Re-signing Years 1-3.

  • Extending: three years, $113,218,563
  • Re-signing: three years, $150,316,884
  • Difference: $37,098,321

Now, we’re down to about 33% of the original $113 million that Brunson actually gave up.

Let’s pause for a moment here…

Giving up over $37 million is still a lot of money to leave on the table. For reference, during 2024 NBA free agency to date, only 21 of over 90 players got more than $37 million in total in their new contracts.

So, even as we try to pushback on reported $113 million sacrifice that Brunson made, we’re still going to recognize that the Knicks star did give up a large sum of money.

What does this mean for the Knicks?

For New York, this is big, but let’s not get too crazy here either.

For one, the Knicks now have their All-Star, All-NBA, MVP-candidate leader locked up on a below-max deal. No matter how you spin it, that’s a pretty big win.

But here’s what the Knicks save over the next three seasons after this upcoming one (Remember, we’re assuming Brunson opts out in 2028) by Brunson extending vs re-signing:

  • 2025-26: $11,450,099
  • 2026-27: $12,366,107
  • 2027-28: $13,282,115

Those per-year amounts will certainly help the Knicks, but they aren’t necessarily life-changing for New York.

Here’s how much the Knicks have on the books for each of those three seasons and for how many players:

  • 2025-26: $186,683,839 for 10 players (including Julius Randle, who has a player option for 2025-26)
  • 2026-27: $129,935,530 for seven players
  • 2027-28: $126,983,155 for five players

In each of the first two years, the Knicks are well above the cap. In 2026, they’ll potentially be facing free agency for Mikal Bridges, Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson, assuming all three are still on the roster.

What giving up $11.5 million and $12.4 million in 2025 and 2026 does do is gives the Knicks some wiggle room under the now infamous tax aprons. That’s some welcomed flexibility, but won’t necessarily be the difference in making a huge addition. The reason for this is that making a big trade would likely still result in becoming hard-capped at either the first or second apron. This is basically the same dance New York did this summer with the Mikal Bridges trade.

But if we go out to the summer of 2027, this is where things could get really fun for the Knicks.

By that summer, New York could be down to Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Pacome Dadiet and Tyler Kolek on the roster. And that would be the final year of Brunson’s contract before he can opt out in the summer of 2028. Let’s add Mikal Bridges on a salary of $45 million for that season too, since the Knicks didn’t trade for him to watch him walk.

If New York kept the rest mostly as-is for the next couple of seasons, in the summer of 2027, they could have around $40 million in cap space. That’s a nice chunk of spending power, but that’s well shy of the projected first-year max salary of $65.5 million for that season.

Now, if the Knicks let Mikal Bridges walk (they likely won’t, but let’s live in Fantasyland for a moment!), they could have as much as $85 million in cap space that summer. That would be enough to get a max free agent and have some leftover money to spend. That’s starting to look a lot like the offseason the Philadelphia 76ers just had.

In summary: Jalen Brunson took less, which helps the Knicks create wiggle room to do their work. But this isn’t likely to result in a major addition in the next two seasons that New York couldn’t have made anyway. Three years from now, we could be in an entirely different place.

How does Jalen Brunson make back the money he gave up?

In short: he can’t.

Even on the most-accurate comparison of Extension Years 1-3 vs Re-signing Years 1-3, Brunson gave up over $37 million. He’s never getting that back.

What did happen by going this route is that Brunson will get into the free agent market a year earlier than he could have by re-signing for a full five-year deal. In this scenario, Brunson opts out in 2028. At that point, he’ll have 10 Years of Service and he’ll be eligible for a full 35% of the cap maximum salary. That contract will start with Brunson’s Age-32 season. Let’s say the Knicks do want to give him the full five-year max, that projects to look like this:

  • 2028-29: $72,042,250
  • 2029-30: $77,805,630
  • 2030-31: $83,569,010
  • 2031-32: $89,332,390
  • 2032-33: $95,095,770
  • Total: five years, $417,845,050

Whew, boy!

Let that sink in for a moment…

Yeah, that’s what a max contract will look like in just four years. Mind-blowing, right?

Will the Knicks want to give Brunson a five-year maximum contract when he’s on the other side of 30 years old? Historically, small guards haven’t aged that well in the NBA, but that’s been changing over the years. Maybe Brunson will hold up just fine and will cash in. But even if it’s not the full max, it’s safe to say that Brunson will get paid, and paid handsomely when he hits 10 Years of Service in 2028.

But here’s the thing (there’s always a thing!):

Brunson could have gotten this exact same deal by signing only a four-year deal in free agency next summer. Nothing says he would have had to sign a full five-year deal. He could have signed for four years, with a player option on the last year, and gotten back on the market in 2028.

Why couldn’t the Knicks and Brunson sign one of those Super Max Extensions?

The Designated Veteran Extension, or so-called Super Max Extension, is only available to players who were drafted by their current team or acquired while still on their Rookie Scale deal. Because Brunson changed teams as a free agent, he is not eligible for a Super Max Extension.

This is bad for all other NBA players, right? Owners will want everyone to take discounts?

Eh…maybe, but probably not. This situation is fairly unique. Most players aren’t going to look at this situation and see themselves in the same place as Brunson. Most front offices and owners will understand that, and will get that their teams are not in the same place either.As far as those screaming from the rooftops that “The players lost in this new CBA! The owners won!”, that’s not really an accurate assessment at all. At the end of the day, the players still get their 51% of Basketball Related Income (BRI). So, even if some contracts come in a little lower, the players are all still getting their fair share of the money. And, let’s not forget that a bunch of players have also signed maximum extensions worth hundreds upon hundreds of millions this summer.

Also, without boring everyone to tears, the BRI calculation was updated to include even more revenue streams. And the players have additional investment outlets available to them under the new CBA, as well.

Simply put: Half of a watermelon is better than a whole grape. NBA BRI is now one giant watermelon. NBA players and NBA teams are making more money than ever, even if those distribution channels may be evolving.

Summary

Jalen Brunson should be lauded for leaving a lot of money on the table. No, it wasn’t really $113 million. Nor was it even really $51 million. But $37 million is still a lot of money.

Brunson is clearly the toast of the town in New York. He’s arguably as big of a sports star as the city has. In a lot of ways, he’s everything Knicks fans want in a star: he’s tough, he plays with heart, he’s an underdog due to his size, and, mostly importantly, he loves New York and playing for the Knicks.

Brunson also clearly values playing with guys he enjoys being around. We’ve all made the jokes about the Villanova Knicks, but there is truth there. You can’t put a price on what it’s worth to play with your friends, even if that price is apparently something like $37 million.

Lastly, the Knicks win here. Not by an overwhelming margin, but things are starting to get really tight on their cap sheet. As we’ve seen in several situations this summer, including New York’s own, any extra wiggle room can make a major difference.

In the end, things got overblown as to how much Brunson really gave up, and how he’ll recoup it eventually. Instead, let’s just focus on the perfect marriage of player, team, time and place that resulted in Brunson making a sacrifice and the Knicks getting a great deal. That’s more than enough without turning this into a fairytale about a conquering hero sacrificing it all to save the kingdom.

 


#nba #extension #jalen brunson
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