New York Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson had a score to settle with Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban on Thursday.
During a joint appearance on Brunson’s podcast “Roomates Show” with Knicks teammate Josh Hart, Cuban had to answer for comments that he made about the star point guard’s parents last year.
That summer, Brunson opted to leave the Mavericks to signed a four-year, $104 million contract with the Knicks in free agency. When Cuban was confronted about why his team allowed Brunson to leave, Cuban pointed fingers at the guard’s parents, Rick and Sandra Brunson.
“Where it went south was when Rick took over, when the parent took over, or parents took over,” Cuban told reporters in June 2023. Rick had worked under Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau in the past and just joined the Knicks’ staff in 2022.
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The New York Knicks’ Jalen Brunson looks on after scoring against the Indiana Pacers during the first half of Game 2 in their second-round playoff series at Madison Square Garden in New York on May 8. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Brunson on Thursday made it a point to tell Cuban that he did not like those comments at the time.
“The only thing that I… didn’t like about the whole situation was when Mark said, ‘When the parents got involved, that’s when things got messy,” Brunson said. “So that was the one thing that I was like, I kinda was like, ‘Damn, that was a little jab.'”
Cuban then promptly apologized.
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Mark Cuban is a minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks. (Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports)
“I apologize,” he said. “If I put you in a certain way, that wasn’t the intention. But it was hard to deal with. It was a unique negotiation in a lot of different ways.”
The Knicks ended up being penalized by the NBA for tampering in Brunson’s negotiations that year, forfeiting a 2025 second-round pick. However, the Brunson signing has yielded them one of the league’s top scorers and floor generals over the last two years. Brunson led New York to playoff series wins in each of the last two seasons, earning his first All-Star appearance and All-NBA second team nod last year.
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Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks dribbles the ball during the game against the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden in New York on Feb. 1. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
After averaging a career-best 28.7 points and 6.7 assists per game to finish fifth in league MVP voting last season, Brunson signed a four-year contract extension worth $156.5 million in July.
Meanwhile, Cuban sold his majority stake in the Mavericks last year to casino mogul Miriam Adelson and her family. The team, led by Luka Doncic and Brunson’s de facto replacement, Kyrie Irving, lost to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals in June.
“There’s definitely no hard feelings at all. But it’s always interesting when your dad and I walk by each other, you know, it’s just like he gives me the eye, I give him the eye, then we smile and then keep on walking, right? And so all is well and ends well…I’m happy for you, the King of New York, and I’m happy for us,” said Cuban.
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