Jalen Brunson on His Decision to Not Sign Extension w/ Mavs | Taylor Rooks X

Jalen Brunson on His Decision to Not Sign Extension w/ Mavs | Taylor Rooks X

you right now are in a bit of a Topsy Turvy situation because we know that in 2021 with the Mavericks you’ve talked about how you wanted to sign an extension but you felt like it was a gamble like that you did not want to take you wanted to just have some Assurance now you’re in a situation where you can sign an extension of course in many ways it would not be financially advantageous to you but it’s the same circumstance but completely different personal positions right what player were you in Dallas where you felt as though you couldn’t bet on yourself and what player are you now H well one it’s kind of hard I’ll say this it’s when someone there’s opportunity to help your family and help yourself it’s kind of hard to look at be ah no I’m good I’m a wait so that’s the first thing um but the player was in Dallas you just I never knew what the situation was for me because there was always someone that they brought in it was like I remember they’re bringing like d Wright they’re bringing Seth Curry like all these guys so I’m not know like what what’s their plan like for me so I’m I don’t I’m just like I don’t say on edge but like you got to prepare for the worst you got like you got to just make sure you’re good like you’re good you don’t want to keep say I’m a b of myself I’m good like it it may not turn out well for you like that’s just how life is and so um yeah they’re always like players they bring brought in like guards and so um obviously not playing as much as I did that that playoff series with Rick and that team and so the next year Jay K comes in he’s like yo like what do you what do you want this season like the our first interaction like he’s like Y what do you want this season yeah I just want to help our team win like saying all the politically correct things that I should say as a player with a new coach who wants to play more of course and he’s like no no no we we got to get you paid I was like okay that’s real yeah that’s real so he that was the first thing he said to me this is our first interaction and like and he did he helped me get paid so thank you Jak kid I appreciate it shout out to you um and um so we had the conversation so we knew before the season that I had to I was eligible to get like four years and 55 million that was like the max I can get at the time for an extension and so talking over with like my dad my agent me and my dad like my family like yo if it’s there we want to sign it my agent’s like if we play well you can do like as he should like if we play well you do this you can get so much more I’m like yeah but like I want to be safe and so before the season we said hey if we can do this now we want to do it otherwise we don’t want to talk about it during the season right and they were like well like we want to see where we are 20 25 games in that’s when like they brought in J kid they brought in Nico um they were kind of just kind of rearranging things and so we were like okay well we’re probably not going to want to talk about it so that was that and so 20 25 games go in like luuka goes out with like an injury and I start I started for a period of time and so right before I started playing a little bit more like playing starters minutes um we said hey like I’ve been doing well like what do we think we we at like I kind of like jumped off what I said I do to possibly sign an extension they’re like ah like it was still like a gray area like we don’t know we want to see it was it was never like a definitive like no there’s never definitive like yes so it was like a gray area and then I started playing well luk comes back I’m still in the starter lineup I’m playing well playing playing well alongside of him and so one thing I understood like Luca is going to play a certain way um because he has that skill is just it’s unheard of yeah so I knew things like that like weren’t going to change so how can I be effective in the role that’s that I’m given so that’s that’s all I was thinking about like how can I be effective I wasn’t think like hey I think I should get the ball more I think I should do that I can do so much more like no like be effective in what’s being asked of you that was a mindset and I think I was doing a pretty decent job at it and so up to the trade deadline I didn’t hear anything about extension and so the trade deadline I’m thinking like I might possibly get traded like CU yeah you didn’t have any Assurance yeah and so obviously don’t get traded um after the fact they they say hey like would you want to sign an extension and we were like no I feel like I’ve outplayed that to this point and I feel like I’m in a position where I’m good barring injuries and stuff like I feel like I’m good um obviously you play well in the playoffs I U when LCA was Al played well and we got to the Western Conference finals and um yeah so being that back then um you just there’s so much unknown MH there’s there’s like about two players per team there’s like 30 players in the league that are like hey like I’m I can exhale I’m comfortable like financially and so um I think now obviously being to where I am I just I I don’t want say I can exhale but like I’m okay yeah I’m okay so it’s a little different person um financially and so uh it’s just it’s totally different situation but I you also you know shouldn’t sell yourself short in terms of just the many differences in this moment and what you’ve been able to show because you know I think when some people watch you now there’s this thought of how did this fall through the cracks in Dallas right how did they not figure it out how to make it work with jayen and when you really sit back and think and reflect for you is it that Dallas didn’t know what they had or is it that maybe you weren’t that player yet both okay I definitely was not the player I am today in Dallas I mean seriously um I feel like at the end of the end of my timeing Dallas in the playoffs I was starting to get there MH but um like you said there was there was conf there was never like Assurance from them there was never Assurance like from me like it just it you don’t know you’re playing the game you don’t know I feel like I’ve definitely established myself more now the past two years than I did my first four years for sure um but it’s not a knock on anybody like you have to make decisions you have to make decisions in a timy manner it is it’s just how it goes sometimes you you strike gold sometimes you’re you’re digging for nothing like it it’s you can’t you can’t hold them account you can’t say hey like you guys messed up like you guys you can say it now in like hindsight but no one knew then like no one knew and then it’s not on them like I have the utmost respect for that organization like I talk to I talk to Mark I talk to all of them like I just thank you for everything like I’m not there’s no grudges like we all move on it is what it is they’re in a position right now where they’re in the finals yeah like so clearly they didn’t need me so I’m not why should I like hold any like animosity towards them and I I hope they don’t feel the same way towards me it’s just um and plus I still have friends on that roster so it’s there there’s there’s there’s nothing there’s no bad blood no nothing like um things get thrown around where like narrators are said that like hey Jaylen did like this like that Mark said no to this like well we hashed everything out like we’re good and we move on yeah

Jalen Brunson opens up about his past contract negotiations with the Dallas Mavericks and the process of whether to agree to an extension or bet on himself.

Watch the full interview ▶️ youtu.be/lPC2fMaJXiM

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