Jalen Brunson opens up about Mavericks letting him and Luka Doncic go
Jalen Brunson reflected on his time with the Mavericks during a sit-down with Sports Illustrated this week.
Brunson was going through different images that took him through various points of his career, and stopped on one where he was photographed with star Luka Doncic from the 2018 Draft, where both guards were selected together by Dallas.
Of course, former general manager Nico Harrison — who put together the 2023-24 Mavericks team that reached the NBA Finals, along with the organization — managed to squander a Doncic- Brunson pairing, which began blossoming during the 2021-22 season.
Brunson, of course, left in free agency to the Knicks that summer for four years and $104 million after initially showing a willingness to sign for four years and $55 million with Dallas before his breakout 2021-22 season.
SI noted that it saw people online saying Dallas and Nico Harrison “fumbled the two of you,” which prompted a smile from Brunson.
“Well,” Brunson said with a pause. “They made decisions and I’ll leave it at that. They made their decisions.”
The situation, of course, became even more painful for Dallas after Harrison orchestrated the blockbuster trade that sent Doncic to the Lakers in February 2025.
The move stunned the basketball world and ultimately contributed to Harrison’s dismissal later that year.
Brunson, meanwhile, has enjoyed a dramatic rise in New York.
After developing into an All-Star and All-NBA performer with the Knicks, he completed the most successful season of his career by leading the franchise to its first NBA championship since 1973.
Brunson was named NBA Finals MVP after leading New York past the Spurs in five games last month, cementing himself as one of the greatest Knicks of all time.
Before leaving Dallas, Brunson and Doncic had already demonstrated what they could accomplish together.
During the 2022 postseason, they powered the Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals.
Unsurprisingly, Brunson chose not to criticize Harrison directly during the interview, instead letting the results speak for themselves.
The Knicks are coming off a championship season, while the Mavericks have undergone sweeping organizational changes after losing both Brunson and Doncic in separate transactions.
Although Doncic — now a Laker — will be on a new-look team heading into next season after the additions of Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Collin Sexton.
