Mark Cuban’s podcast look with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart yielded a revealing second about what the Mavericks considered Brunson upon drafting the purpose guard.
Hart, jokingly, requested the previous Mavs proprietor why the workforce drafted “the little fat-headed child from Villanova,” referencing Brunson, and Cuban didn’t fairly disagree with that evaluation.
“We traded as much as get Luka [Doncic] and we get [to] the quantity 31 [pick],” Cuban mentioned, recalling the 2018 draft. “And all of the scouts have been like, ‘JB, JB, JB, JB. He’s a winner, yada, yada. Little bit chubby, not fairly as quick, not tremendous athletic, however he’s a winner, he’s a champion. You may’t put a worth on that. That’s our man.”
Brunson took that in stride, laughing together with Hart after Cuban dropped “chubby” as a descriptor.
The present Knicks celebrity spent the primary 4 years of his profession in Dallas earlier than shifting to New York.
That got here simply after Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau employed Brunson’s father, Rick, to his teaching employees, main Cuban to say in April 2023 that “Rick took over, or the dad and mom took over.”
Brunson introduced up these feedback on the podcast, main Cuban to apologize.
“The one factor I … didn’t like about the entire scenario was when Mark mentioned, ‘When the dad and mom received concerned, that’s when issues get messy,” Brunson mentioned. “In order that was the one factor that I used to be like, I type of was like, ‘Rattling, that was a little bit jab.”
The Knicks misplaced a 2025 second-round choose over tampering on account of that negotiation, however after Brunson emerged as a bona fide celebrity, that was greater than a good worth to pay.
Brunson inked a four-year, $156.5 million extension in July, leaving $113 million on the desk he may have obtained by ready till subsequent summer time to signal.
“I apologize, if it put you in a sure approach, that wasn’t the intention,” Cuban mentioned. “But it surely was laborious to take care of. It was a novel negotiation in plenty of alternative ways.
“There’s undoubtedly no laborious emotions in any respect. But it surely’s at all times fascinating when your dad and I stroll by one another, you realize, it’s identical to he provides me the attention, I give him the attention, then we smile after which carry on strolling, proper? And so all is nicely and ends nicely. … I’m joyful for you, the king of New York, and I’m joyful for us.”
