Getty Image
The New York Knicks organization believes it’s the victim of targeted harassment by the NBA after the league launched an investigation into the promotion the team gave assistant coach Rick Brunson over the summer. Brunson’s promotion coincidentally coincided with his son Jalen signing a four-year, $156 million extension with the Knicks.
The deal came in well short of the five-year, $270 million extension that Jalen Brunson would have been eligible to sign had he just waited a year. While the Knicks and their fans claimed that Brunson took a discount to allow New York to build a better team around him, the NBA wasn’t as convinced.
Rick Brunson was promoted after former lead assistant Johnnie Bryant took the same role under Kenny Atkinson with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The league is now looking into whether Rick Brunson’s promotion was an unspoken incentive for Jalen Brunson to sign an extension that was well under market value.
But as Alex Schiffer of Front Office Sports reports, the Knicks feel like they’re being unfairly targeted.
New York Knicks Put Out Scathing Statement Accusing NBA Of Harassment
“Brunson took Johnnie Bryant’s place and assumed the same salary as Bryant,” MSG Sports said in a statement. “It’s offensive that anyone would claim Rick didn’t deserve the promotion, Rick has done a tremendous job and will continue to do so. We see this as more harassment of the Knicks due to our opposition to certain NBA matters.”
Rick Brunson was already on staff when Jalen signed with the Knicks in 2022. But the NBA also determined that New York tampered with Jalen Brunson before he hit free agency. The league docked the Knicks a second-round pick for the violation.
Additionally, Knicks owner James Dolan ripped into the league over its most recent media rights deal. Now New York sees the Brunson investigation as a way for the NBA to retaliate. There’s little to no evidence suggesting that’s the case. But it only further upsets the already tenuous relationship between the two sides.