Brunson’s discount funded the Knicks’ championship
Old controversy, new chapter: Draymond Green revives his criticism of Brunson’s contract, and Josh Hart fires back
Despite the New York Knicks winning the 2026 NBA championship, Draymond Green has not changed his mind about Jalen Brunson’s controversial extension. In 2024, the Knicks star agreed to a contract extension, giving up approximately $113 million to provide the franchise with salary-cap flexibility.
It is a decision that the Golden State Warriors forward continues to criticize, as he reiterated during his podcast The Draymond Green Show following a social-media exchange with Josh Hart.
We need to start normalizing the idea that grown men should stop counting other people’s money
Josh Hart
For Green, Brunson’s sacrifice ultimately pushed down the value of negotiations for the other players on the roster, allowing the front office to ask its players to make similar financial concessions:
I stand by what I said: Brunson should not have made that move. The reason is simple: everyone else is now being forced to give up money. Mikal Bridges left millions on the table, Landry Shamet accepted less than he could have gotten elsewhere in order to stay, and now we’re hearing that Karl-Anthony Towns will also have to take a pay cut if he wants to remain
Draymond Green
Who re-signed and how much they left on the table
Although the figures cited by Green differ slightly from reality, Bridges gave up roughly $6 million by signing a $150 million extension out of a maximum $156 million available, and the trend within the Knicks’ roster is clear. Towns has said he is willing to take a pay cut of up to $100 million on his next extension, while Shamet turned down richer offers on the market to sign a four-year, $24 million deal with New York.
All of this is happening because Brunson was the first one to do it. My comments from two years ago have been confirmed by what actually happened
Draymond Green
From the New York front office’s perspective, the domino effect triggered by Brunson helped build the defending champions and also influenced the rest of the NBA: Wembanyama gave up $51 million on his $250 million extension to give the Spurs financial flexibility to strengthen the team.
However, Green’s position reflects a concern shared by several players around the league: the idea that the sacrifice of a team’s star could become a management practice used by franchises to keep their players’ salaries down.