NBA Investigating Knicks For Alleged Tampering After Signing Former Mavericks Guard Jalen Brunson

SportsMoney NBA Investigating Knicks For Alleged Tampering After Signing Former Mavericks Guard Jalen Brunson Doyle Rader Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. New! Follow this author to improve your content experience. Got it! Aug 1, 2022, 01:24pm EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – APRIL 28: Jalen Brunson #13 of the Dallas Mavericks in action during the .

. . [+] first half of Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round Playoffs against the Utah Jazz at Vivint Smart Home Arena on April 28, 2022 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images) Getty Images The NBA has opened a tampering investigation against the New York Knicks. The league is looking into whether the Knicks contacted former Dallas Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson before the start of the 2022 free agency period, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports .

This summer, Brunson signed a four-year, $104 million contract with the Knicks rather than re-signing with the Mavericks. Needing a starting caliber point guard, New York was not quiet about its interest in Brunson, despite Dallas’ ability to offer him the most money. In April, New York executives William Wesley and Allan Houston sat courtside with Knicks player Julius Randle, a Dallas-area native, for Game 1 of the Mavericks playoff series with the Utah Jazz in Dallas.

Their presence did not go unnoticed. Then in June, the Knicks hired Rick Brunson, Jalen’s father, to be an assistant coach on head coach Tom Thibodeau’s staff. Brunson previously served on Thibodeau’s staff with the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves.

All of this occurred before the official start of free agency: June 30 at 6 p. m. ET.

Dallas drafted Brunson with the No. 33 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. He played four seasons with the Mavericks, helping the team advance to the Western Conference Finals in 2022.

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What Dallas offered, however, was not enough to sway Brunson from decamping for New York. The Mavericks reportedly offered him a five-year, $106 million deal to stay in Dallas—$4. 8 million less annually than New York’s offer.

The Knicks were brash about its courtship of Brunson, which eventually paid off for the organization. So does it amount to tampering? That is what the NBA wants to know. Follow me on Twitter .

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