Dirk Nowitzki has admitted he was not sure Jalen Brunson's move to the New York Knicks would work when the guard left Dallas in 2022. Now, after Brunson has grown into one of the NBA's premier guards, the former Dallas star is calling that judgment wrong.
Nowitzki told Brunson, “When you left for New York, I wasn’t sure if this was going to work,” before adding, “So I’m super proud of you, super happy for you.” He also said he had seen “how hard you worked and how much it means to you, how much time you put in when nobody is watching,” and that he was “so happy the way you’re leading this franchise.”
That matters because Brunson did not arrive in New York as a finished star. He signed a four-year, $104 million contract with the New York Knicks in 2022 after Dallas allowed him to test the market, even though the Dallas Mavericks had opportunities to extend him before unrestricted free agency. At the time, the deal drew criticism because he had never been the primary option on an NBA team, and New York had spent years looking for a long-term answer at point guard.
Brunson then answered with performance. During Dallas in the 2022 Western Conference finals run, he averaged 21.6 points and helped the Dallas Mavericks survive the start of their first-round series against the Utah Jazz while Luka Dončić was injured. He scored 41 points in Game 2 and 31 points in Game 3, showing he could carry a playoff offense when the load shifted to him.
That is where Nowitzki's doubt runs into the record. He had spent Brunson's rookie season with him on the Dallas Mavericks before retiring in 2019, so he knew the player long before the breakout. But Brunson kept building after leaving Dallas, eventually developing into an All-NBA player, becoming the Knicks' captain, and turning the contract into a clear success story.
The miss is now part of the story. Brunson has become a central figure for New York, and Nowitzki has said plainly that he is glad to see it. What remains unanswered is why Dallas let a player who had already shown he could steady a playoff run reach the market at all.
