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Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart
I still don't get Brunson wanting to be "the man" while being cool with teaming up with Murray anyway. Made no sense unless he just didn't like Luka.
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There doesn't seem to have been a personal issue between them, at least nothing that's been reported. What I have seen though are reports of Brunson's "camp" thinking that he would never fulfill his true potential playing next to "the most ball-dominant player in the league." And I've also seen reports saying that there were "hard feelings" over the Mavs not giving him the extension he wanted. Zach Lowe said that Brunson wanted the Mavs to "outbid" the Knicks, and that execs Lowe spoke to said "if the Knicks offer $25 mil, the Mavs should offer 30."
It sounds like it's a combination of things. I think the biggest factor of all though and the only one that really matters is that the Knicks clearly want him a lot more than the Mavs do. If the Mavs wanted to keep him that badly, they could. But they have their "walkaway price," at 22 million.
Again, I'm not in love with Brunson's game, but there are two really inexcusable failures here by the Mavs. #1- not giving him the extension early on, enabling the Mavs to keep him at a mere fraction of what he costs now, and #2, not working a S&T with the Knicks once it became clear the the Knicks were willing to pay more than the Mavs were.
Losing him is one thing. Losing him for nothing is another.