Kevin Durant didn’t hide his surprise when the subject turned to Jalen Brunson’s contract decision.
Brunson took a massive discount in 2025, signing a four-year, $156 million deal to stay with the New York Knicks instead of waiting for the full max, which would have been worth $269 million the following year. That meant leaving nearly $113 million on the table, and Durant made it clear he would not have handled it the same way.
“Yeah, it’s crazy. I don’t think I would have been advised to do that.
Would have gotten talked out of it. I probably would have been like, ‘All right, I’m cool with it.’
I’d have sat down and talked to all my people like I usually do, Rich, all my friends. Like, ‘What?
Are you serious? Why do you need to take that risk when this dude’s a billionaire?”
Durant said in an interview with Boardroom.
Still, Durant didn’t leave the conversation there. He also acknowledged the logic behind Brunson’s move and gave him credit for how it played out.
“I understand his thought process and why he actually executed that. I can’t put myself in that position and just say, ‘Yeah, I would have done it or not.’
For him to make that decision and come out the way it did, kudos to him. But hopefully he gets that back on the back end,” Durant added.
The choice worked out as well as Brunson could have hoped. The source notes that the New York Knicks are the 2026 NBA Champions, Brunson was named Finals MVP, and he’s now “immortalized in that city forever.”
He chose legacy over money, and he delivered a title. Even Durant, who knows plenty about star-level money and expectations, could appreciate that part.
In Other News...
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Across the first two games against the San Antonio Spurs, New York had to play from behind and still found a way to settle in and make winning plays late. Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart each had their turns carrying the load, but Breens point was broader than any one performance: the Knicks title push was built on collective sacrifice, and that showed up every time the game started tilting the wrong way. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Veteran Big Search Just Got More Interesting In Portland
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Potters situation is the one worth watching from a Knicks perspective. Portland is over capacity and already has two centers ahead of him, which could make him the odd man out if the Blazers need to clear room elsewhere. If he becomes available, New York has reason to look closely, because the Knicks still have a need for a veteran big man. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Suddenly Look Like A Real Landing Spot For Kelly Olynyk
Kelly Olynyk is still on the market, and the pool of obvious landing spots has narrowed after Golden State used its final roster openings elsewhere. That leaves the veteran big man weighing a familiar kind of late-summer uncertainty, with a handful of teams still in the mix and the chance of a standard contract looking slimmer by the day.
The Knicks, though, suddenly stand out as a place where Olynyk could actually compete for a spot rather than simply wait for one to open up. A training-camp invite or another non-guaranteed arrangement would give New York a low-risk look at a player who could fit into its center depth, and for Olynyk it would create a real path to stick around if he can make the case on the floor. [Read more 🡒]