The sentences start the same every June when writing about the Knicks. I have no idea what they’re doing, if they have a plan, or, much more simply … why they’re doing anything they’re doing.

But this year I’m a little envious of someone and that someone is Jalen Brunson. The 6’1 25-year-old guard played extremely well for a couple of months (and two big playoff series!) in Dallas and now the Knicks have decided they’re ready to move mountains to get him. 

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to sign Brunson. He’s a good player! He scored a career-high 16.3 points last season on 50.2% shooting from the field and 37.3% shooting from 3-point range with 4.8 assists and 3.9 rebounds. Against the Jazz in the playoffs, he went supersonic scoring 27.8 points per game in the six-game series win.

That’s a winning guy, but probably the type of guy teams who are close to a championship window (like Dallas!) should want to keep. But they probably won’t know, and that’s because the Knicks have decided they’re obsessed and need him. 

Their commitment is palpable. They’ve been involved in trades that moved around 11 draft picks, three players, and also literally signed his father as assistant coach in the last few weeks alone. They’re ready to pay him something close to a four-year, $110 million deal according to most reports. The Mavericks offered him literally half of that amount of money in January which he, wisely, turned down.

It looks like Brunson is going to be a Knick, and I don’t think that makes New York any more of a playoff threat. But the Villanova product is about to get paid big time by an organization that really, truly believes in him, and that was never a foregone conclusion for the No. 33 pick.

And instead of ripping into lol Knicks culture, I’m just sitting here smiling because you know what, that’s kinda nice.