The New York Knicks have had one of the strangest offseasons of any NBA team this year, which started off with a confusing NBA Draft last month.
New York decided not to take their selection at pick 11, trading that to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a number of first-round picks.
They then decided to trade back up in the draft for the 13th pick, only to trade that pick away to the Detroit Pistons along with Kemba Walker in a salary-clearing move.
The organization was criticized pretty heavily for these moves, but it was clear that they had a plan in mind following this decision.
It then came out that the Knicks would be pursuing Dallas Mavericks point guard Jalen Brunson in free agency, who was a restricted free agent with Dallas, eventually signing him to a massive four-year contract worth nearly $110 million.
This came out before the June 30th start date of NBA free agency, when teams were officially able to reach out to impending free agents.
According to The Athletic’s Fred Katz, this may result in the Knicks facing league discipline for tampering. The Mavericks were reportedly frustrated that there were reports of a finished contract between Brunson and the Knicks before those sides were officially allowed to talk.
Knicks are expected to be penalized for tampering regarding their agreement with Jalen Brunson, per Fred Katz
Mavericks were 'frustrated' because reports of a finished contract between Brunson and Knicks came out before sides were allowed to speak to each other pic.twitter.com/RcqzhTCdt3
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 5, 2022
If these reports are true, this could have major effects on the Knicks organization moving forward.
The Nets are literally the laughing stock of the league rn and here come the Knicks like "dont forget about us" smh https://t.co/SEO8cvXsSX
— Justin Thomas/JT (@J_Thomas_24) July 5, 2022
They hired his father a couple weeks ago as an assistant coach.
That's all the evidence you need. https://t.co/BROciWvhIO
— The Real Jermaine Cole (@Jonr1ck) July 5, 2022
Their punishment is they gave $100M to Jalen Brunson. https://t.co/ujWrLTnBS8
— Vincent (@LuckyLombardi) July 5, 2022
A similar situation happened to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2020, when they agreed to a sign-and-trade for former Sacramento Kings guard Bogdan Bogdanović,
The trade fell through after it was discovered that the Bucks had spoken to Bogdanović on a potential contract before the date they were allowed to do so.
This ultimately cost the Bucks their 2022 second-round pick, in addition to losing out on Bogdanović.
It is unclear if that type of punishment could be coming for the Knicks, but they obviously had a plan to sign Brunson in free agency long before they actually came to an official agreement.
The Knicks have clear ties with Brunson, with Knicks president Leon Rose being the former agent of Brunson and Brunson’s father being brought onto the Knicks as an assistant coach.
It’s a situation that could end up being costly for the Knicks moving forward.
[Bleacher Report, The Athletic]
