DALLAS — The Knicks took the mystery of Jalen Brunson’s status Wednesday all the way to the deadline before announcing he would start, but really, there was little mystery attached to the questionable status or the talk of a game-time decision.
For Brunson, any game is treasured, but a chance to face the team that let him walk away in the city that he thought he would spend his career, certainly would nudge the status of his sprained right ankle to the side of suiting up.
“Obviously he had some good years here,” Josh Hart said. “Obviously, he got a lot of love for Dallas, so whenever you come to a place like that, it’s always a good feeling.”
“You’ve got to ask him,” Mike Brown said shortly before the game. “But I’m sure he’s had a lot of great memories here, and some not so great. That’s everybody that’s been in different spots around the league.”
Brunson left Dallas for New York for a lot of reasons — some that earned the Knicks a penalty for tampering although it’s hard not to ignore the relationships he held with the Knicks. His godfather, Leon Rose, served as team president. Tom Thibodeau the head coach at the time, had seen him on courts since his childhood. Rick Brunson, his father, served as an assistant coach.
But Brunson has also flourished on the big stages. For a night here in Dallas, it was one, but there is no bigger stage than Madison Square Garden, where Brunson has become an All-NBA star.
“Yeah, one, he’s one of the best players in the world when you look at, he was tough here,” said Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, who helped nourish Brunson’s growth in the NBA during their time together. “He might use his right hand a little bit more that we tried to talk to him about using here. But I think you look at Brunson’s basketball IQ, his work ethic, he loves the game.
“When you ask about what’s grown, he loves the stage and when you’re playing for the Knicks what bigger stage can you be on? He’s not going to run from it. He’s going to embrace it. Just as we get older in life he knows what he has to do.”
Kidd understands it, having been on that stage himself in the final season of his own Hall of Fame career. He joined a team led by Carmelo Anthony and helped the Knicks to a berth in the Eastern Conference semifinals before the season ended in Indiana and his career did, too.
“It’s the Mecca,” Kidd said. “it’s one of the most popular places to play the game of basketball. I would say I enjoyed that one year. The car ran out of gas at the end. I had to park it.”
He paused before adding, referring to his time with the Nets when they were back-to-back Eastern Conference champs, “But I really enjoyed that place when I played on the other side of the river in New Jersey, because we owned it.” He paused again and said, “Wanted to see if I could make you guys laugh. I’ve been practicing that all day.”
Kidd could have been on that stage again this summer if the stars aligned. He was the first choice of the Knicks for their coaching vacancy, but the Mavericks never gave the Knicks permission to speak with him.
“I think when you look at what the Knicks did this summer, understand it was denied, but I never was thinking about leaving,” Kidd said. “I love Dallas, I love working for Patrick [Dumont, the team owner]. Understanding that we have a lot of work to be done to be a champion. I’m all-in to be able to do that. I was drafted here, I won here, I love the city, I love the fans, so it never crossed my mind to leave Dallas. I think it’s safe to say we all enjoy being wanted. So that was a nice touch.”
On the record, Kidd went with that story, although league sources have indicated that he had interest in the job.
Kidd’s admission that he ran out of gas at the end of his time in New York was certainly true, but he knew what it meant. And he likely knew what it meant for Brunson on Wednesday night, too.
Notes & quotes: Mavs rookie star Cooper Flagg was held out Wednesday with an illness.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
