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After months of speculation and investigation, the NBA has come to a decision on the offseason pursuit of Jalen Brunson by the New York Knicks.
Made official on December 21, the league announced that the organization would lose the rights to their own 2025 second-round pick as they were found guilty of engaging in premature free-agency discussions with the point guard.
Considering the magnitude of the NBA’s decision, it didn’t take long for the news to make it’s way back to the top-billed individual associated with the summer tampering scandal in Brunson himself, as he was asked in a post-game media session that night what his reaction was to the Kicks’ penalty?
In response, the 26-year-old played things rather coy.
“No reaction, that was my reaction,” Brunson told reporters.
Brunson would continue on by noting that he’s happy that a resolution has come on the matter and that he now no longer has to be asked about it moving forward.
Brunson a Revelation for Knicks
Morales of tampering aside, stealing Jalen Brunson away from the Dallas Mavericks this past summer and adding him to this Knicks roster has proven to be everything that many were hoping it would be and more.
The $104 million man has managed to suit up for all of New York’s contests thus far into 2022-23 and, in turn, has posted stupendous averages of 20.4 points, 6.3 assists, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.1 steals on 46.1% shooting from the floor and 36.6% shooting from distance.
In comparison to this point in the season last year, with Brunson now in the fold the Knicks have managed to literally flip the numbers in the win-loss colomn, as they were 14-18 through 32 games in 2021-22 and, now, find themselves boasting a record of 18-14, good enough for sixth-place in the Eastern Conference standings.
On top of their 180-turnaround, since the calendar page flipped to December New York has been arguably the hottest team in the association, as they have won eight of their last ten games while Brunson has led the charge for the club with his production by boasting tremendously efficient averages of 18.3 points, 6.0 assists, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.2 steals on 46.3% shooting from distance and sports a box plus-minus rating of +5.7 throughout this span.
Lakers Interested in Knicks Forward
Despite their successes of late, it appears as though the Knicks could still be in the market to make some rotational shakeups and reports are there’s one west coast team that could prove to be a realistic trade partner before February’s deadline.
According to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, the Lakers have shown to have serious interest in acquiring Cam Reddish from New York.
“As far as whom the Lakers might target? That’s still all over the place,” Woike wrote. “There are people within the organization very intrigued by New York Knicks forward Cam Reddish — a 6-foot-8, 23-year-old wing — who would give the Lakers size on the perimeter, a massive need.
“He’s also a former lottery pick, the kind of reclamation project the Lakers have had some success with this year with a player like Lonnie Walker IV.”
Woike reports that the Knicks are looking to acquire a first-round draft pick in return for Reddish’s services should he be traded, though admitted that “the asking price is expected to eventually dip” due to his lacking involvement this season.
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