Jalen Brunson drops truth bomb on facing Mavs, Luka Doncic

Knicks guard Jalen Brunson will square off against his former team on Saturday after leaving as a free agent last off-season.

After spending the first four seasons of his NBA career with the Dallas Mavericks, Jalen Brunson decided to sign with the New York Knicks this off-season as soon as he hit free agency. The move drew some scrutiny seeing as how Brunson's father Rick was recently hired in June as an assistant coach on Tom Thibodeau's staff and Knicks president of basketball operations, Leon Rose, is Brunson's godfather.

The Knicks currently have an active tampering investigation by the league open regarding Brunson's signing, but no findings have been made public so far. On Sunday, Brunson is set to face off against his former team for the first time as the Mavs visit Madison Square Garden, and he insists there's no added motivation as per Fred Katz of The Athletic.

Jalen Brunson says he has no extra emotions heading into tomorrow's game against his former team. "It's going to be a battle," he said. Said approach does not change.

— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) December 2, 2022

Neither team has been able to find any sort of consistency this season with both the Knicks(10-12) and Mavs(10-11) coming into the game with near identical records. The Mavs, however, have been unable to replicate the production Jalen Brunson provided in the backcourt alongside Luka Doncic. During his time with the Mavs, Brunson emerged as one of the top scoring guards in the league a second-round steal. His final season in Dallas, Brunson was putting up 16.3 points per game and 4.8 assists while shooting 50.2 percent from the field and 37.3 percent from the three-point line.

This season with the Knicks, Brunson has seen an uptick in his numbers to the tune of 21.3 points and 6.5 assists and 48.6 percent shooting from the field, as his role and responsibilities have increased since leaving Dallas.