Why Knicks are investing so much in free-agent Jalen Brunson

By Yaron Weitzman
FOX Sports NBA Writer

In the winter of 2021, about a year after coming in to help his friend/partner Leon Rose run the Knicks, William “Worldwide Wes” Wesley was talking to an associate about the duo’s plans for the franchise. 

“I told Brock,” Wesley told the associate, referring to Brock Aller, a friend the Knicks had recently hired to serve as their chief strategist, “that the only way he and I would have an issue is if he didn’t have enough assets to draft D.J. Wagner by the time he entered the draft.” 

Wagner at the time was one of the country’s top sophomore prospects. More importantly, he was the son of Dajuan Wagner, the former NBA lottery pick whom Rose had represented as an agent. More importantly than that, he was the grandson of Milt Wagner, another former NBA player and a longtime friend of both Rose and Wesley, who, like Wagner, are both South Jersey natives.

Wesley made clear to the associate that he was joking. But the point was clear. 

“Family is how we’re building this team,” he said. 

Knicks pursuing Jalen Brunson with four-year, $110M offer

The Knicks are reportedly all-in on signing the former Mavericks point guard, trading Nerlens Noel and Alec Burks to Detroit to clear cap space. They can now offer Brunson a four-year, $110 million deal. Nick Wright explains why New York going all-in on Brunson is an “awful idea.”

It took some time, but we’ve finally seen the length that he and Rose are willing to go when it comes to fulfilling this pledge. Sure, they spent their first two-plus years bringing in names from their respective pasts. Rose’s former client was named head coach. The roster was populated with players from Kentucky — a school coached by John Calipari, another longtime friend of Wesley’s — and Creative Arts Agency, where Rose previously worked. 

But those were friends. Colleagues. Partners. Family is something different, something you value more than anything, and there’s only one NBA family outside of the Wagners that Rose and Wesley consider their own. That would be the family of Rick Brunson, the former NBA point guard who also made his home in South Jersey and just happened to have been Rose’s first NBA client — and who the Knicks recently hired as an assistant coach.

It’s important to keep all this in mind when breaking down the Knicks’ recent string of decisions. By now you’re no doubt up to date with the news: The Knicks have spent the past week clearing…