Jalen Brunson could be willing to help New York Knicks with contract discount

The New York Knicks are in offseason mode and are ready to lock up their star point guard, Jalen Brunson, for the long-term future. According to Steve Popper of Newsday, "all indications are [that] he won’t hold the team up now and that [Jalen Brunson is] willing to sign a four-year, $156 million contract extension".

Brunson, who was a legitimate MVP candidate this season, has one more year under contract and a $24 million player option for the following year. He's far outperformed that salary and the Knicks would like to keep him happy with an extension.

The All-NBA veteran can wait until next season to get an extension and since he would be beginning a new contract, the CBA allows Brunson to end up with a five-year, $270 million deal.

The deal that Popper has reported Brunson is willing to sign could save New York as much as $17 million in cap space annually with more in possible luxury tax fees. That's money that can be invested back into the roster in other ways.

How does Jalen Brunson taking a max contract help the Knicks?

While any max or near-max contract doesn't do any favors to a team's ability to stay under the cap, the franchise will likely be able to stay under the first or second luxury tax apron by having Brunson take a lower max than he could if the star waited until next offseason to sign his deal.

Yes, Julius Randle's contract situation was exactly like this after he led the franchise to a playoff berth in the 2020-21 season and then was arguably not able to play up to the maximum demands of the deal in the following years. Still, Brunson's circumstance is a lot different than Randle's situation as the star guard has performed like an All-Star or better in his seasons with the Knicks.

Yes, James Dolan is many things but he's never really shied from paying big payrolls to try and help this team. The problem is usually that he's paying too much to the wrong players. Still, it would be advantageous to have as much flexibility as possible while they're looking to re-sign OG Anunoby and Isaiah Hartenstein, potentially chase other stars and add more depth to this roster.