Jalen Brunson’s $156.5 million extension with the New York Knicks may have been a recent NBA revelation, but there’s some key context that seems to have inspired the deal.
As part of his reporting on Brunson’s innovative contract to stay in the Big Apple, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski suggested that the MVP candidate reviewed other generational sports icons’ contracts across the other three major American sports.
“Brunson’s study of championship organizations and franchise stars — Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs, the Tom Brady New England Patriots and the Derek Jeter New York Yankees — gave him a blueprint for MVP-level players who structured contracts to give their teams the best chances at sustainable title runs,” Wojnarowski wrote.
Across six championship-winning seasons in New England, Brady was rarely among the highest-paid quarterbacks in the sport.
For example, even after bumping his average annual value from $9 million to $20.5 million in 2016, Brady still sat only 12th among quarterbacks in AAV.
That selflessness enabled New England to keep stars like Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Nate Solder and Dont’a Hightower for a myriad of seasons.
Meanwhile, Jeter signed a three-year, $51 million deal on the heels of his 10-year, $189 million contract, slightly dropping his annual payday so that the Yankees could keep players like Alex Rodriguez, C.C. Sabathia and Mark Teixeira.
The latest of the three is Mahomes, who restructured his 10-year, $503 million deal this offseason to generate over $21 million in cap space.
While Mahomes doesn’t even rank among the top-five annual salaries in the NFL anymore, his magnanimous choice allowed the two-time defending champion Chiefs to retain defensive tackle Chris Jones, plus add receiver Marquise Brown.
Although the results were generally not as fruitful for Jeter in the baseball realm, Mahomes and Brady have proven clear examples of stars opting for less in order to build a more well-rounded roster — and one good enough to win multiple titles.
With Brunson saving the Knicks over $37 million in cap space courtesy of his deal, the team should be able to continue to stay aggressive — as it has this offseason via trading for Mikal Bridges and keeping O.G. Anunoby.
