01-14-2023, 12:00 PM
(01-14-2023, 11:45 AM)mvossman Wrote: I think you are simplifying things. Guys generally want to get paid, they generally want to win, and they want opportunity to score (especially the offensive players). Different guys will prioritize different things. I think a lot of guys would prefer to be the offensive focal point and a lot of point guards want to be the one to run the show. For some winning is more important, but with the egos in the NBA I think that might be more the exception than the rule.I’ll take that a step further.
I'm not sure there was an avenue for keeping Brunson. I think our best shot was to have done his contract right to begin with, so that he was restricted the prior year. I'm not even sure he takes the max extension if they offered it last offseason (which they should have). I would be willing to bet if the Mavs make a final offer matching NY (we will never know because Brunson cancelled that last meeting, which I think is telling in of itself) Brunson is still walking.
If the Mavs offered the max to him, either the Knicks get him more than they paid him, or he sticks with the team he’s wanted to play for his whole life. Tampering allowed NYK to give him the exact number he wanted before FA started, he had no thought whatsoever at that point to return.
I even wonder if those first contract negotiations were insisting (on his side) the contract be the way it was so he could go home at the first opportunity. It may have been a never meant to be thing.