Getty ESPN sports analyst and former NBA player Richard Jefferson (R) laughs as people in the front row, including owner James Dolan (L), head coach Tom Thibodeau (3rd L) and Leon Rose (4th L) of the New York Knicks, talk to him.
Richard Jefferson, who once starred for the New Jersey Nets (now Brooklyn Nets), had been a known New York Knicks critic. But his stance has since changed after the Knicks built a playoff contender under team president Leon Rose.
Jefferson, who now calls Nets games on Yes Network and is also part of ESPN’s second-tier panel, believes the Knicks are close to finally landing the elusive stars, not one but two.
“I think Joel Embiid and another superstar will end up in New York,” Jefferson boldly claimed on the August 17 episode of the Road Trippin Show.
New York’s situation reminds Jefferson of the Los Angeles Clippers before Kawhi Leonard and Paul George went there, and the Nets before Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving chose them over the Knicks.
“If you try and get a player to come in and be a superstar and save your organization, there’s going to be a problem,” Jefferson said. “No one wanted to come be the savior of the New York Knicks. So now that they have the talent they built within, they’ve got core pieces, they’ve got an all-star point guard in [Jalen] Brunson, and now guys are going to want to play there.”
The Knicks struck gold in Brunson, who has been a revelation in his first season in New York after leading them to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
Jalen Brunson’s Deal Holds the Key
Jefferson views Brunson’s current deal ($104 million over four years) as similar to Stephen Curry when the Warriors guard was still on a team-friendly deal during his rise to stardom, allowing them to sign Kevin Durant.
“Brunson’s on a friendly contract that runs in with an All-NBA player that’s getting paid like a low-level all-star,” Jefferson said. “I think that Brunson deal is going to be such a team-friendly one that allows them to get two max contracts, which is very difficult today to add three max contract players and nothing else but minimums.”
Brunson’s $24.9 million salary after next season only accounts for 13.6% of the Knicks’ salary cap for the 2024-25 season. The Knicks have been patiently waiting in their star pursuit and were reluctant to go all out on stars below Embiid’s level, such as Donovan Mitchell last summer and Paul George this offseason.
Jalen Brunson Named to Tier 3B in NBA Player Tiers
Brunson was named among the top 33 NBA players (tier 3B) in The Athletic’s NBA Player Tiers.
The Athletic’s Seth Partnow, former Milwaukee Bucks director of basketball research, views Brunson as one of the stars to build with rather than to build around.
The 26-year-old Brunson is grouped with Kyrie Irving, Trae Young, Khris Middleton, Draymond Green, Jrue Holiday, Pascal Siakam, Zion Williamson and Lauri Markkanen in the top 25-33 NBA players.
The Knicks point guard is coming off his best season in the NBA, where he averaged a career-high 24 points and 6.2 assists as the engine of a team that only had one All-Star in Julius Randle, who went two wins away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals.