Potential Jalen Brunson sign and trades to the Knicks

Mavericks twitter, radio shows, and probably in-person conversations (if there are still people doing that) have been 90% about one specific topic: Jalen Brunson. I hope he’s enjoying the focus of the off-season for two NBA teams.

I’ve already given my opinion here and Xavier gave his here about what the Mavericks should do. It is a divisive topic, to say the least, just look at the comments.

Here, we’ll try to explain the CBA rules as it pertains to a hypothetical Jalen Brunson sign-and-trade to the Knicks. Assuming the Knicks waive Taj Gibson’s non-guaranteed deal but keep Mitchell Robinson’s cap hold, the Knicks have $16,339,373 in space.

Because the Knicks are under the cap the rules change and make a direct Mavericks/Knicks trade possible.

Mavericks Side of the Trade

One thing to remember from my other, longer piece is that Brunson only counts half in going salary for the Mavericks but the full amount for the Knicks.

The Dallas side doesn’t change because the Knicks have cap space. If we are only sending Brunson then the max we can bring in is $15,725,000.

This would normally create a gap between a low number they the Mavericks can take back and a high number for what the Knicks have to send. As illustrated here.

But the rule for the Knicks side is now for a cap space team. The rules for a cap space team is that they can do any trade as long as after the trade they aren’t more than $100,000 over the cap. So if they wavie Gibson and keep Robinson’s cap hold they are $16,339,373 million under the cap and with Brunson coming at $25,000,000 in the first year of his new deal then the Knicks need to send out at least $8,560,627 to the Mavericks to make it legal from their perspective.

Potential trades

So how on the Knicks would fit as return? I am NOT commenting on if the Knicks would trade these places because of their value. I only want to comment on the legality of their inclusion in a SnT for Brunson that would satisfy the trade math on both sides. I’ve also included pairs of players too.

Note: I haven’t included picks or Trevor Keels draft rights in this because picks and rights count as $0 in trade math.

I really hope this explain what IS an IS NOT possible in a potential Jalen Brunson trade between the Knicks and Mavericks. Let’s see what happens over the next week or two.