Four years ago today, the Knicks made the move that changed everything.
On July 19, 2022, Jalen Brunson walked into his introductory press conference after signing a four-year, $104 million deal with New York. At the time, plenty of people saw it as an overpay. His father, Rick, had agreed just a month earlier to join the Knicks as an assistant coach, but the buzz around the signing was mostly about the price tag.
Now the whole thing looks very different.
Brunson, who was 25 then and is now nearly 30, has spent his career hearing the same questions. He wasn’t the biggest guy on the floor.
He didn’t have elite athleticism. Even after winning two national championships at Villanova, he still slid out of the first round in the 2018 NBA Draft.
None of that stopped him from becoming one of the defining players in Knicks history.
He is now the reigning Finals MVP and the captain of the first Knicks championship team in 53 years. That alone puts him in a different category.
The signs were there before he ever got to New York. In 2021-22, Brunson was a full-time starter for the Mavericks for the first time and put up 16.3 points and 4.8 assists per game. Good numbers, sure, but not the kind that had him in All-Star talks.
Then came the 2022 playoffs, where he started showing exactly what he could be when the stage got bigger. Luka Dončić missed the first three games of the opening round against the Jazz with a left calf strain, and Brunson responded by averaging 32 points in those games, including a 41-point night in Game 2. Even after Dončić came back, Brunson still scored at least 20 points in eight of the next 15 playoff games they played together.
That still wasn’t enough for everyone to buy in. He had spent much of that season playing off the ball next to Dončić, and there was plenty of skepticism about whether he could be the primary creator for a team with real expectations. New York paid him to be exactly that.
The reaction at the time was hardly glowing. CBS Sports gave the Knicks a D+ for the signing.
Michael Pina, then of Sports Illustrated, gave it a C. Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report also handed out a C.
Those grades don’t look great now.
What looked risky in 2022 has become one of the best free-agent signings in NBA history. Brunson has turned into the face of the franchise and, in the process, helped transform the Knicks from a long-running league punchline into champions. On regrade day, that deal belongs in the A+ range.
In Other News...
Knicks Fans Just Got A Painful Reminder About The Second Apron
The second apron has become the leagues latest hard reality, and the Knicks are right in the middle of it. New York is projected to start the 2026-27 season below that line, along with 29 other NBA teams, a reminder that the financial pressure is not just a Knicks problem but a league-wide one. It is also the kind of constraint that has already shaped how the franchise talks about roster building, especially after governor James Dolan publicly took aim at the idea of living above that threshold.
For the Knicks, the issue is not abstract. Their decision to avoid crossing the second apron has already carried basketball consequences, including the loss of Mitchell Robinson, who is now on a three-year deal elsewhere. Across the league, other front offices are making similar calculations, and Oklahoma Citys recent move to get under the line only underscored how aggressively teams are treating that cap marker. The Knicks may not be alone in feeling the squeeze, but they know exactly what it costs when the bill comes due. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Suddenly Have A New Center Problem After Cisse Twist
The Knicks search for center depth took another turn after Dallas matched the offer sheet for Moussa Cisse, leaving New York to keep working the market for a big man who can help fill out the back end of the roster. One name now in the mix is Jamarion Sharp, a 7-foot-5 center who spent Summer League with Toronto and has already built a reputation as a rim protector at the pro level.
Sharps appeal is pretty clear for a team looking for low-risk size: he was the G League Defensive Player of the Year and showed flashes in limited Summer League minutes with 7.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks. New York is still sorting through its options, but the idea of using a two-way spot on a defender with that kind of length gives the front office another path if the center market keeps tightening. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Repeat Hopes Just Got More Complicated In A Familiar Place
The Hawks were already one of the more uncomfortable matchups for the Knicks after giving New York its toughest run in the 2026 playoffs before the title push finally ended their season. Now Atlanta has spent the offseason trying to make itself even harder to handle, with moves aimed at sharpening both the second unit and the defense around a group that has become a familiar problem for New York.
Aaron Wiggins was brought in earlier this month to help the bench offense, and the broader picture is clear enough for the Knicks to notice. Atlanta is trying to turn last springs playoff resistance into something sturdier for the next meeting, and the additions are designed to make that path a lot less forgiving for a team that would rather not see this opponent again in a high-stakes series. [Read more 🡒]