Jalen Brunson has turned into a legitimate superstar for the New York Knicks — an MVP candidate even — that it's easy to forget his humble beginnings with the Dallas Mavericks.

Many people remember how he was the breakout star of the 2022 NBA playoffs. But before that, he was a bench player for the Mavs who barely got any minutes for the team during their 2021 first-round exit against the Los Angeles Clippers.

In 2022, Brunson was entering the final year of his rookie contract. It was unclear how big of a role he would be playing for the Mavericks, but when the Mavs hired Jason Kidd as its new head coach, Brunson had a fresh start — a new opportunity for him to make a name for himself just in time for his new contract.

And from the get-go, that was Kidd's intention — to give Brunson an opportunity to come into his own as a star ballhandler so that he could get paid handsomely in free agency.

“The next year J Kidd comes in and says, yo like, what do you want this season? Like our first interaction, he's like, ‘Yo what do you want for this season?'

“[I answered], ‘Yeah I just want to help our team win yada, yada, yada,' like saying all the politically correct things that I should say with a new coach [as a player] who wants to play more,” Brunson recalled in an appearance on the Taylor Rooks X podcast.

“And he's like, ‘No, no, no, we got to get you paid. I was like, ‘S**t.' Okay that's real, yeah that's real. So that was the first thing he said to me. This is our first interaction. He helped me get paid, so thank you, J-Kidd. I appreciate it.”

Jalen Brunson began the 2021-22 season in a bench role for the Mavericks. But it became apparent quickly that he had improved by leaps and bounds from the previous campaign. He impressed Jason Kidd and his staff enough that he had a 30-minute role locked down near the start of the season, and by December 12, 2021, he became the team's full-time starter in the backcourt.

Brunson only became a starter at first due to a Luka Doncic injury, but he was so good that Kidd couldn't keep him out of the starting lineup even after Doncic returned.

His breakout also served as an encouragement for the Mavericks to trade away Kristaps Porzingis, as they leaned heavily into a guard-heavy, control-the-pace style, which led to an appearance in the 2022 Western Conference Finals.

The Mavericks may have ended up losing Jalen Brunson to the Knicks in free agency. But Brunson will forever have fond memories of his last year in Dallas, thanks in large part to how Jason Kidd helped set him up for life with a four-year, $104 million deal.

Jalen Brunson's departure gives the Mavericks some deja vu

During the same podcast appearance, Jalen Brunson recounted the story of how the Mavericks failed to come to terms to an extension with him.

Dallas could have offered him a four-year, $56 million contract, but the Knicks star said that such an offer was never on the table prior to the season even though his camp made it clear to the Mavs front office that he's not going to talk about a potential extension during the season.

However, Brunson said that he saw an opportunity to revisit talks just as he began to cement a starting role. The Mavericks, however, remained hesitant to secure Brunson to an extension. There was never a definite no or yes regarding a new contract, per Brunson. But in the end, the two sides never saw eye to eye.

By the time the Mavericks were ready to secure him to a new contract, Jalen Brunson felt that his worth had become much higher. His stock only rose during the playoffs as he proved himself worthy of a max contract with one stellar performance after another.

He saw joining the Knicks as an opportunity to further his career. He bet on himself and won big, and the next contract he'll sign will be much, much more lucrative.

This is not the first time the Mavericks have let a very talented guard walk prematurely. Back in 2004, they let Steve Nash walk in free agency. Nash, despite being 30 years old at the time, still had plenty of gas left in the tank. He won MVP in 2005 and 2006 and was the Phoenix Suns' driving force for nearly a decade.

Thankfully for the Mavs, these mistakes haven't exactly prevented them from contending. They made the Finals in 2006, two years after Nash's departure. Years later, they brought Kyrie Irving in as the de facto Jalen Brunson replacement, paving the way for them to make the 2024 NBA Finals.