Jalen Brunson’s $156.5 million contract extension with the New York Knicks was a hot topic in NBA circles recently, but there were some key factors that contributed to the deal.
As part of his reporting on the groundbreaking deal that will keep Brunson in New York, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski suggested the MVP candidate look at the contracts of the other three biggest generational players in American sports.
“Brunson’s study of championship organizations and franchise stars — Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs, Tom Brady’s New England Patriots and Derek Jeter’s New York Yankees — gave him a blueprint for an MVP-caliber player signed to give his team the best chance at winning a title.” Wojnarowski wrote.
Throughout his six winning seasons in New England, Brady has rarely been one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in sports.
For example, even after his average salary increased from $9 million to $20.5 million in 2016, Brady still ranked 12th among quarterbacks in total salary.
That selflessness has allowed New England to keep stars like Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Nate Solder and Dont’a Hightower for multiple seasons.
Jeter, meanwhile, signed a three-year, $51 million deal following a 10-year, $189 million contract that allowed the Yankees to reduce his salary slightly to allow them to retain players like Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira.
The latest of the three is Mahomes, who restructured his 10-year, $503 million contract this offseason, freeing up more than $21 million in cap space.
Mahomes is no longer among the top five salaried players in the NFL, but his generous option allowed the two-time champion Chiefs to retain defensive tackle Chris Jones and acquire receiver Marquise Brown.
On the baseball front, the results have generally been less fruitful for Jeter, but Mahomes and Brady have proven to be clear examples of stars making fewer choices in order to assemble a roster that is more well-rounded and good enough to win multiple titles.
Signing Brunson will save the Knicks more than $37 million in cap space and should allow the team to remain aggressive, just as they did in trading for Mikal Bridges and retaining OG Anunoby this offseason.
