Tag: Jalen Brunson

Minimum GOATs: The best players ever on the NBA’s base salary

At any given time, roughly a third of the league is on veteran or rookie minimum contracts. By and large, these are young and unproven or older and nearly washed players, balancing on a knife’s edge for their NBA careers. Most second-round picks, …

At any given time, roughly a third of the league is on veteran or rookie minimum contracts. By and large, these are young and unproven or older and nearly washed players, balancing on a knife’s edge for their NBA careers. Most second-round picks, for example, end up signing minimum deals, and few stick in the league for too long. But every once in a while, a minimum player makes you sit up and take notice of their play.

Here are the Top 20 players to play on minimum deals. (For this exercise, we’re focusing on players on minimum contracts for full seasons).

What did Donte DiVincenzo say to Tom Thibodeau before his heated exchange with Rick Brunson?

It isn’t what people originally thought he said.

Minnesota Timberwolves wing Donte DiVincenzo returned to play against the New York Knicks, who recently traded him for Karl-Anthony Towns.

After the preseason game, DiVincenzo got into a heated exchange with Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson. The coach is also the father of New York’s point guard Jalen Brunson, who attended college with DiVincenzo. The pair actually won two collegiate national championships playing alongside each other.

While we may never learn exactly what happened during the argument between DiVincenzo and his former assistant coach, there were some preceding incidents that perhaps led to the tension. For example, he also had a back-and-forth with his former head coach Tom Thibodeau.

At first, some fans thought they could see DiVincenzo saying “thanks for the trade” to his former head coach.

According to DiVincenzo, however, he actually was talking at the free-throw line about his finishing abilities at the rim.

Although there were highly speculative rumors that DiVincenzo was “unhappy” in New York, he has since confirmed such talk was purely untrue.

DiVincenzo has always spoken highly of Thibodeau and his time playing for the Knicks.

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Donte DiVincenzo had a heated argument with Knicks coach Rick Brunson after reunion game

Donte DiVincenzo is still so bitter with the Knicks.

Sunday night was the first time that Donte DiVincenzo faced his old team, the New York Knicks, after being thrown into the shocking Karl-Anthony Towns trade. And let me tell you, DiVincenzo, now with the Minnesota Timberwolves, did not seem remotely interested in holding back any ill feelings over his life being uprooted just days before Knicks training camp.

It started with DiVincenzo appearing to trash-talk Tom Thibodeau while shooting free throws. The guard was seen jawing at Thibodeau, with some incorrectly assuming it was about his trade from New York.

As DiVincenzo clarified after the game, he was actually rhetorically asking Thibodeau about whether he could finish at the rim, a criticism he apparently heard during his Knicks stint:

But the real incident — where DiVincenzo said he was NOT joking — came with assistant coach Rick Brunson, the father of Knicks star Jalen Brunson.

DiVincenzo and Brunson were caught in a heated argument on the postgame court where they actually had to be separated by other Timberwolves and Knicks players. It was not clear what was said between them:

Whatever happened here, it sure seems like we have the early makings of a tasty interconference rivalry. The Knicks will visit DiVincenzo’s Timberwolves again in late December.

We better get our popcorn ready, folks.

Knicks creatively avoided Karl-Anthony Towns talk while the blockbuster trade is still pending

Karl-Anthony Towns is reportedly headed to the New York Knicks, but the organization is not actually allowed to talk about it quite yet.

Karl-Anthony Towns is reportedly headed to the New York Knicks, but the organization is not actually allowed to talk about it quite yet.

While the trade was reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania, it is not yet official. The blockbuster deal will send Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to the Timberwolves to the Timberwolves in exchange for the four-time All-Star (who also seemed surprised about the trade).

This massive move will give New York an incredible starting five, but there is one small problem: The organization cannot actually discuss the terms and implications until the league processes the transaction. That usually isn’t a big deal but that comes at a very inconvenient time: Media day.

With so many reporters around the team, they all want to know about Towns. But they are only getting coy, canned answers. Here are a few of them so far:

Jalen Brunson: ‘Don’t know who that is’

Josh Hart: ‘We got KAT?! Oh, wow.’

Tom Thibodeau: ‘Good try’

 

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Duke basketball freshman Isaiah Evans names James Harden, Jalen Brunson as inspirations

During last week’s episode of The Brotherhood Podcast, Duke’s Isaiah Evans named James Harden and Jalen Brunson as players he looks up to.

The best way to become a great basketball player is to watch what great basketball players do, and that fact is not lost on new Duke freshman [autotag]Isaiah Evans[/autotag].

During last week’s episode of The Brotherhood Podcast, the incoming five-star named James Harden and Jalen Brunson as two NBA players he enjoys watching.

Evans said he felt drawn to Harden since he was young, and he would have been 12 years old when Harden was named the 2017-18 NBA MVP with the Houston Rockets. He averaged 30.4 points per game that season, his first of three consecutive scoring titles.

“He imposed his will on the defense,” Evans said. “He was just going out there and just showing you, you really just couldn’t do nothing with him. I just loved that.”

With Harden now approaching his 35th birthday, Evans said Brunson emerged as a younger player he loves studying.

“His footwork and his pivots and his pump fakes,” Evans said. “I’m just in love with it.”

Thanks to his Duke commitment and slender build, Evans draws many visual comparisons to former Blue Devil [autotag]Brandon Ingram[/autotag]. The five-star freshman also said he likes watching Ingram and [autotag]Jayson Tatum[/autotag] as he tries to take what he can from as many stars as possible.

Could the Nets have swapped Kyrie Irving for Mavericks’ Jalen Brunson?

The Brooklyn Nets could have been able to swap Kyrie Irving for Jalen Brunson before trading Irving to the Dallas Mavericks?

The Brooklyn Nets are in the middle of their latest rebuild as they are looking to find their next superstar or two in the upcoming NBA Drafts. The hope is that Brooklyn can find a player that they can develop in-house, but there is one player that could have been with the franchise if certain events went differently.

ESPN’s Tim MacMahon recently went on the “Knicks Film School Podcast” with Jonathan Macri to discuss various topics related to the New York Knicks after everything that has happened this summer. One of the talking points that came up was whether the Nets could have gotten Knicks star Jalen Brunson in a trade for Kyrie Irving during the 2022-23 season with the Dallas Mavericks.

“The funny thing is, if Brunson signs that extension with Dallas, I think there is a high likelihood that he would be with the Brooklyn Nets right now,” MacMahon said. MacMahon is giving his opinion here, but it is interesting to hear these comments from him given that the Mavericks are part of his coverage for ESPN so it’s possible that there could be some chatter behind what he’s saying.

“Mark Cuban has always been about chasing stars,” MacMahon explained. But, I think there’s a decent chance that Jalen Brunson would have been moved to Brooklyn with Kyrie Irving still ending up in Dallas.” During the 2022-23 campaign, the Nets traded Irving to the Mavericks after the two sides were unable to come to terms on a contract extension and Brooklyn received Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith along with draft picks.

To add to this revisited moment, the Mavericks had the chance to offer Brunson a four-year, $55 million deal prior to when he broke out with the Mavericks during the 2021-22 season. As Brunson explained on the “All The Smoke” podcast with former NBA players Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, Dallas wanted to wait to give Brunson the extension and after that, it seemed that Brunson wanted to go elsewhere which is how he ended up signing with New York in free-agency the following summer.

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New York Knicks trade for Mikal Bridges, recreate 2017 Villanova team that lost to the Wisconsin Badgers

The Knicks traded for Mikal Bridges on Tuesday night, recreating the team that lost to the Wisconsin Badgers in the 2017 NCAA Tournament:

The New York Knicks made a blockbuster trade on Tuesday night, acquiring star forward Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets for a deal highlighted by five first-round picks.

The trade, in essence, makes the Knicks the Villanova Wildcats of the NBA. The team is now led by former Villanova stars Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo.

Related: Big Ten basketball teams ranked by returning production entering 2024-25 season

The reaction to the trade on X mostly revolved around the Knicks ‘recreating Villanova’s 2016 national championship-winning team.’ Many point to that title win as the last time these four players shared a court.

But that is not the case.

The Knicks’ blockbuster trade actually recreated the 2016-17 Villanova Wildcats team that was a No. 1 seed in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, but lost 65-62 to the Wisconsin Badgers.

That day saw Nigel Hayes lead the 8-seed Badgers with 19 points, 8 rebounds and the game’s deciding basket:

He was guarded by Villanova’s Mikal Bridges, the newest member of the New York Knicks.

Wisconsin handed Villanova its only NCAA Tournament loss in a three-year period, as the Wildcats went on to win the national championship again in 2018. Another note: this game punched the Badgers’ ticket to the Sweet Sixteen, a round the program has been unable to reach since that date.

Here is a full look back at Wisconsin’s big win over the Wildcats — or, now the Knicks:

The screenshot of the Mikal Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo group call discussing their Knicks reunion was priceless

Okay, this is just delightful.

The Mikal Bridges trade set the NBA world ablaze a day before this year’s draft.

Indeed, Bridges will join his old Nova teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo with the New York Knicks, which instantly makes them one of the most enjoyable and dangerous NBA teams going into next season.

Soon after the news broke on Tuesday night, all four of the former Villanova teammates got on a group call right to discuss their reunion.

Hart shared an absolutely delightful image on Twitter (X) of the four friends all celebrating their reunion, with Bridges the final piece of the puzzle to put all of these old pals back together again.

You can tell by the looks on their faces how genuinely thrilled they all are, as Hart, Bridges and Brunson were already quick to react on social media.

The trade has massive implications for the NBA at large, but it’s clearly huge on a personal level as well for these four old friends who now get to play basketball together again. How cool is that?

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Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart couldn’t believe their Villanova reunion with Mikal Bridges via Knicks trade

The Villanova Knicks seem very excited to play together once again.

Tuesday night’s blockbuster NBA trade that sent Brooklyn Nets forward Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks seemed to even catch these three key players by surprise.

Bridges and his reunited Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart shared their excitement on Twitter (X) as soon as the trade news broke, as the three all played college basketball together at Nova.

The three, along with fellow Villanova/Knicks teammate Donte DiVincenzo, will now get a chance to push for an NBA title in the Big Apple, and we bet all four of the NBA standouts will relish the chance to play with each other once again.

You can tell by these reactions how excited all of these guys are to reunite.

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Knicks’ Jalen Brunson defends, gives love to Sixers star Joel Embiid

New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson defends and gives love to Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid.

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is one of the top players in the league, but he also has a bad playoff reputation as he has yet to get past Round 2 in his career. That’s due to a number of reasons–injuries being the main one–but it’s an unfortunate tag he has been given.

Embiid once again labored through an injury in the 2024 playoffs and it hurt the Sixers in their Round 1 loss to the New York Knicks. Playing with a meniscus injury in his left knee and through Bell’s Palsy, Embiid was still dominant as he averaged 33.0 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 5.7 assists, but he seemed to run out of gas in the fourth quarters of games.

Knicks star Jalen Brunson hopped on with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks and defended Embiid from criticism while showing him love:

Joel is unfairly discussed. He is the one player where I played against him, I’m like ‘Damn. This dude is dominant.’ When I first played him in Dallas, he just controlled the entire game from the center position. I haven’t seen that in person so I’m just like–he controlled the game. He controlled the pace of the game. He just controlled it. Me seeing now ‘Oh, Joel hasn’t got past the second round or Joel hasn’t done this.’ Joel has done some crazy things. MVP, the numbers he puts up, all that stuff. He’s done crazy things.

Embiid and the Sixers will look to once again make another run at a title in the 2024-25 season. President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey has a ton of cap space and it is his responsibility now to make sure he gets Embiid and Tyrese Maxey the help they need to get it done in the Eastern Conference.

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