NBA Rumors: New York Knicks trying to create room to pursue Jalen Brunson

NBA Rumors: According to a recent report, the New York Knicks are trying to create cap space in an attempt to pursue Jalen Brunson.

With just a couple of days before the 2022 NBA Draft, there’s going to be plenty of noise stemming from teams that are trying to get their ducks in a row before the offseason gets in full swing.

The New York Knicks are expected to be one of those teams. And according to a recent report, part of them preparing for the offseason will be trying to clear enough cap space to be a contender in the pursuit of Jalen Brunson.

Using common sense, it’s likely that the Knicks will use the NBA Draft at their disposal in trying to get under the cap enough where they could outright offer Brunson a competitive offer.

"[via Bleacher Report]In forecasting their offseason dealings, the Knicks are said to be targeting roughly $25 million in room to be able to chase Dallas Mavericks point guard Jalen Brunson, and they are expected to find new homes for Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel, among other moves."

With that said, as the report also echoes, the expectation around the league is that the Mavs are still expected to retain Brunson. And I believe that the move for Christian Wood actually reinforces that belief.

I’m not sure the Mavs make a complementary move for Wood without the confidence that they’re still going to have Brunson as a second option next to Luka Doncic. I can’t imagine the Mavs would enter the season with Wood as the second option next to Luka.

That doesn’t make sense and, if anything, he was acquired to supplement the lack of flexibility that the team has this offseason – especially under the assumption that the team will have to allocate a good portion of their cap to re-signing Brunson.

That doesn’t mean the Knick won’t try, though. New York has been trying to find a long-term answer at the point guard position for years and Brunson could finally be that. But it won’t be an easy task to pry him out of Dallas.

The first step in potentially doing so, however, is getting enough cap space to even be a suitor. It seems as if the Knicks are working on that.