Over the last several weeks, the Jalen Brunson sweepstakes has heated up, with the Dallas Mavericks attempting to re-sign the talented guard and the New York Knicks doing very little to hide plans for a high-end free agent pursuit. In fact, it is now widely reported that the Knicks plan to tender a nine-figure offer to Brunson in free agency and, on Tuesday evening, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported news that furthers that belief. Wojnarowski indicates that the Knicks will send both Alec Burks and Nerlens to the Detroit Pistons expressly to create space for Brunson.
The Knicks are trading center Nerlens Noel and guard Alec Burks to the Pistons, sources tell ESPN. The Knicks will unload $19M more in salary, clearing the way for cap space to try and sign free agent guard Jalen Brunson.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 29, 2022
The Knicks have cleared $30M in salary cap space to offer Dallas' Jalen Brunson in the neighborhood of a max contract. The unloading of assets and contracts clearly shows the Knicks' confidence that they can secure Brunson once free agency opens on Thursday.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 29, 2022
In addition to Noel and Burks heading to Detroit, the Knicks will reportedly attach a pair of second round draft picks and cash considerations to the Pistons to sweeten the deal.
New York will send Detroit back its 2023 second-round pick, a 2024 second-round pick via Miami and $6 million, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 29, 2022
Noel and Burks are both competent rotation options, making this deal more palatable for the Pistons. However, the clear impetus for New York is to shed the $9.24 million for Noel and $10 million for Burks. Detroit gets a couple of interesting future-facing assets in the deal, and the Pistons can also potentially flip either Noel, Burks or both as pseudo-expiring contracts with team options for the 2023-24 campaign.
With free agency set to officially begin on Thursday, June 30, the Knicks are now fully aligned to pursue Brunson. Given that Brunson is an unrestricted free agent, the Mavericks may be left with little resistance toward New York’s plan, particularly given all of the buzz as June winds down.
