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Jalen Brunson has reaffirmed his claims that the Dallas Mavericks declined to offer him a contract extension on two separate occasions before he left the team as a free agent.

Brunson previously told Bleacher Report back in March that the Mavericks chose not to offer him a four-year, $55 million extension that he would have accepted to stay in Dallas.

Instead, he joined the New York Knicks and has been superb this season – earning a first NBA All-Star selection.

He recently repeated the claim during an episode of ‘All The Smoke’ with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes.

‘I really did want to stay in Dallas,’ Brunson said to the shock of many during the podcast appearance.

Jalen Brunson reaffirmed that the Dallas Mavericks declined to offer him a contract extension

Brunson played for four seasons in Dallas before signing with New York as a free agent in 2022

.@jalenbrunson1 details his last season in Dallas. He was ready to sign a 4-year $55 million contract, but the Mavs front office balked.😳Full episode of All The Smoke with JB drops tomorrow on our YouTube. pic.twitter.com/whxbOrez0w

— All the Smoke Productions (@allthesmokeprod) February 21, 2024

‘I wanted to stay there, I thought I would be there for a long time, and I liked my role there. It’s funny because my agent was like, “You can do so much, you can get more, you can get more.” I’m saying, “Well, I want to be safe”. 

‘I’m not trying to gamble right now. This is not something you really gamble with if it’s out there. But [the Mavericks] were like, “We want to see where we’re at by like 20, 25 games into the season.” We were like, “All right, well, if you’re not going to do it, I kind of don’t want to do it until after the season. I’m not trying to think about this [during the season].”

‘So there was a period where Luka [Doncic] went out and I started to start. I was playing really well, I think I was averaging like 20 and like six, maybe, whatever. It was about that 20-, 25-[game] mark. 

‘And so we went back, we’re like, “Hey, if the deal is there, we’re thinking about it. Like, I’ll do it, like right now.” Still, it was no. It wasn’t a hard no – it was just like, “We want to see, we want to see”.’

Brunson’s fine play this season was enough to earn him his first All-Star nod of his career 

Brunson went on to say that he ended up thinking he was going to get traded due the lack of an extension and when the Mavericks attempted to come back to him on the offer it was too late.

‘I was like, “No, I think I’ve outgrown that now,”’ Brunson said. ‘Personally, that’s what I thought.’ 

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had a different point of view on things last year and subsequently claimed Brunson and his representation never gave Dallas a chance to even match the four-year $104m deal the All-Star signed with the Knicks.

‘Knowing the numbers now, I would’ve paid it in a heartbeat, but he wouldn’t have come anyway,’ Cuban told ESPN.

The month before Brunson signed with the Knicks, New York had hired his father Rick as an ᴀssistant coach after having previously worked with head coach Tom Thibodeau back in 2016 with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

When Rick was a player he was represented by Knicks team president Leon Rose, who coincidentally enough is Brunson’s godfather as well.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban claimed Brunson never gave them a chance to offer him a deal

In December of 2022 the NBA penalized the Knicks by stripping them of a 2022 second-round pick after saying they tampered with Brunson by having conversations before the official start of free agency.

Brunson weighed in on Cuban during the conversation as well when he said: ‘So he says that in an interview, whatever, like literally right after the game,’ Brunson told Jackson and Barnes.

‘So I’m thinking, “OK”. After that, it was just like crickets. From my point of view – I can’t speak to anyone else or my agent’s – from my point of view, it was crickets.’

The ‘that’ Brunson referred to was a clip on X of Cuban saying ‘We can pay him more than anybody. And I think he wants to stay, and that’s more important.’

Brunson earned his first All-Star nod this season due to his fantastic play and has been averaging 27.6 points and 6.5 ᴀssists per game. He also participated in the 3-point contest.