{"id":121718,"date":"2025-02-03T16:00:07","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T21:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=121718"},"modified":"2025-02-03T15:34:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T20:34:34","slug":"knicks-beneficiary-of-mavs-lost-pg-duo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/03\/knicks-beneficiary-of-mavs-lost-pg-duo\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks a Beneficiary of Mavs’ Lost PG Duo After Don\u010di\u0107 Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the dust has settled on the most shocking trade in NBA history<\/a>, there are many angles to explore. The Dallas Mavericks, on a Saturday night before Thursday’s trade deadline, unexpectedly dealt superstar guard Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/span><\/a> to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis<\/a>. There were other assets involved on both sides, but the Lakers grossly underpaid for a 25-year-old superstar. Infinite narratives have been created, from conspiracies to more likely reasons Dallas would alienate their fanbase so baldly. However, the story I want to focus on comes from the New York Knicks perspective.<\/p>\n

Knicks a Beneficiary of Mavs’ Lost PG Duo After Don\u010di\u0107 Trade<\/h2>\n

The Dallas Mavericks are now infamous for parting ways with three future stars before they could ever reach their potential in Texas. Luka Don\u010di\u0107 is now a Laker before he even entered his prime, after carrying Dallas to three wins of a title. Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is<\/a> was a blossoming star in New York, flopped in Dallas next to Don\u010di\u0107, revived his career in DC, and is now a champion and invaluable part of the Boston Celtics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, for the Knicks faithful, all that matters is their side of the story. Once an incompetent organization with an embattled fanbase, they now are positioned as well as almost any other franchise. Their turnaround was all possible because the Mavericks let Jalen Brunson<\/a> slip away, fresh off a 2022 Conference Finals run where he was Luka’s main sidekick. While Brunson wasn’t the star he is today, he showed clear signs of ascension in the 2021-22 season. He’s now a top-10 player in the league and has New York as a legitimate contender.<\/p>\n

Signs of Brunson’s Breakout Were Obvious<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Dallas Low-Balled Brunson in 2022<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Through his first two campaigns in Dallas, the former second-round pick looked to be just that. Brunson averaged just<\/a> 9.3 and 8.2 points coming mostly off the bench out of Villanova. In his third season, he showed flashes of the player he would eventually become, posting 12.6 points and 3.5 assists per game on phenomenal efficiency, again as a bench player. After this improvement, Brunson asked for a four-year, $55M extension entering his contract season, but Dallas declined. Brunson was coming off an admittedly brutal playoff series against the Clippers.<\/p>\n

Luckily for Brunson, that fourth season was his breakout year. His numbers jumped to 16.3 points and 4.8 assists as he started 61 of his 79 games. The Mavericks put the $55M deal back on the table in February<\/a>, but it was too late: Brunson felt he had proved he was worth more, and chose to play out the campaign unsigned and hit free agency. That decision was the best gamble he’s ever made, as betting on himself would earn him $49M extra, on a four-year $104M<\/a>\u00a0deal and change the trajectory of his career.<\/p>\n

The then 25-year-old’s playoff outburst would seal the deal for Dallas’ fate. Brunson averaged 21.6 points and 3.7 assists over their Conference Finals run. He even stepped in for an injured Don\u010di\u0107 in the first three games of their first-round matchup<\/a> with Utah, putting up 24, 41, and 31-point nights to secure a 2-1 series lead. The Knicks clearly saw his superstar potential and how it could translate to the playoff stage (30.3 PPG, 6.6 APG in 24 playoff games<\/a> in NY).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

JB is Now Leading the Best Era of Knicks Basketball in 30 Years<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Nowadays, Jalen Brunson is the captain, leader, and best player on a true championship contender. He\u00a0is an All-Star starter <\/a>and New York is a top-five team in the league with arguably its most prolific offense.<\/a>\u00a0They should have a run with their current core for at least a few more seasons. Brunson is playing next to two of his Villanova teammates he won championships with in Mikal Bridges<\/a> and Josh Hart<\/a>. His father and former Knick, Rick Brunson<\/a>, coaches next to Tom Thibodeau. Brunson is where he’s supposed to be, and his Knicks are more under control than they have since the 90s. Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks have let go of their two elite stars. It’s a dark day in Dallas, but the Knicks will take it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo credit: \u00a9 Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the dust has settled on the most shocking trade in NBA history, there are many angles to explore. The Dallas Mavericks, on a Saturday night before Thursday’s trade deadline, unexpectedly dealt superstar guard Luka Don\u010di\u0107 to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis. There were other assets involved on both sides, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5412,"featured_media":121767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,30,62,12,4721],"tags":[1417,138,1133],"class_list":["post-121718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-mavericks","category-nba","category-knicks","category-trade-rumors","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-kristaps-porzingis","tag-luka-doncic"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121718"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121769,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121718\/revisions\/121769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}