{"id":741714,"date":"2026-06-17T05:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T05:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/741714\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T05:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T05:33:10","slug":"mark-cuban-real-simple-reason-we-let-jalen-brunson-leave-for-knicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/741714\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Cuban: &#8216;Real simple&#8217; reason we let Jalen Brunson leave for Knicks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mark Cuban has admitted why the Mavericks completely whiffed on letting Jalen Brunson walk to the Knicks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was really, really simple. We didn\u2019t see JB, as what he would become,\u201d Cuban, the owner of the Mavericks from 2000 to 2023, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Fibonacci69\/status\/2066903451699679683?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2066903451699679683%7Ctwgr%5Edb90ffc1bdf09cf7f11876824394c100a1d2bad1%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D39700379action%3Dedit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">said in a recent appearance<\/a> on \u201cHouse of Haymaker.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brunson spent four years with the Mavericks, averaging more than 15 points per game only in his final year, the 2021-22 season. <\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.54916793;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39700542\" width=\"914\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-16-at-10.16.17-PM.png\" alt=\"Mark Cuban speaking into a microphone.\" class=\"wp-image-39700542\"  \/>Mark Cuban talks about letting Jalen Brunson leave the Dallas Mavericks on the \u201cHouse of Haymaker\u201d show.  @Fibonacci69\/X<\/p>\n<p>Dallas had an option to extend the guard for $55 million prior to his breakout season, but opted to wait to see if his value would change after the year. <\/p>\n<p>Cuban said he thought he would have a chance to match other teams\u2019 offers, but <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/13\/sports\/knicks-win-first-nba-championship-in-53-years\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brunson accepted the Knicks<\/a>\u2018 four-year, $104 million deal before talking to the Mavericks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe showed that star potential when Luka [Doncic] got hurt, and he won those games against Utah for us, but we were trying to get a star to put next to Luka, and JB\u2019s star had not risen yet,\u201d Cuban said.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s safe to say Brunson\u2019s star has risen now after he just <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/05\/26\/sports\/jalen-brunson-left-humbled-by-series-mvp-honor-as-knicks-reach-finals\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">won the NBA Finals MVP<\/a> in the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/13\/sports\/knicks-win-first-nba-championship-in-53-years\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Knicks\u2019 first NBA championship in 53 years<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Mark Cuban admits the Mavericks completely misjudged Jalen Brunson before letting him walk to the Knicks<\/p>\n<p>Ben Rogers: How did Jalen Brunson get away?<\/p>\n<p>Mark Cuban: &#8220;It was really, really simple. We didn\u2019t see JB, as what he would become&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He showed that star potential when Luka\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tqlIklXVBi\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/tqlIklXVBi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Fibonacci \ud83e\udd77 (@Fibonacci69) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Fibonacci69\/status\/2066903451699679683?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">June 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The former Villanova Wildcat averaged 32.6 points, 4.6 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game in the Finals, including a 45-point night to seal the series in Game 5.<\/p>\n<p>That mirrors the success Brunson had during his entire stint with the Knicks, as he has averaged 26.3 points, 6.8 assists and 3.4 rebounds in 284 games with New York.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.84082031;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39700555\" width=\"496\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/new-york-knicks-vs-san-130909746_bc6ebd.jpg\" alt=\"New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson holding the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player trophy, with forward Og Anunoby behind him, celebrating their championship win.\" class=\"wp-image-39700555\"  \/>New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson #11, smiling while holding the Most Valuable Player award. Charles Wenzelberg \/ NY Post<\/p>\n<p>The guard was a part of the championship run in more ways than one; the court, though, he turned down approximately $113 million in guaranteed money when he signed a four-year, $156.5 million contract extension in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>This allowed the Knicks to afford guys like OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark Cuban has admitted why the Mavericks completely whiffed on letting Jalen Brunson walk to the Knicks. \u201cIt&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,20455,2158,590,2656,1666,85],"class_list":["post-741714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-mark-cuban","tag-nba","tag-nba-finals","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}