Jalen Brunson signed a four-year, $156.5 million extension with the New York Knicks on Friday.
The figure is $113 million less guaranteed than he would have been eligible to receive next offseason, but it puts the Knicks in a much better position financially to build a championship-caliber roster around him.
The deal was first reported by ESPN, with Brunson’s agent telling the organisation his client chose the extension over a five-year, $269 million contract he could have received as a free agent in 2025.
It’s an unprecedented move for the All-Star guard who finished fifth in MVP voting last season after he averaged career highs of 28.7 points and 6.7 assists in 2023-24.
Those numbers were far better than expected when the former second-round pick signed with the Knicks in 2022, with some questioning if a player who had mostly been a backup in Dallas was worth more than $100 million.
Brunson, 27, helped the Knicks reach the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2013 before falling to the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Brunson broke his hand in the second half and the Knicks were already dealing with a plethora of injuries to key players.
He has blossomed into one of the league's most impactful players and leaders and earned All-NBA honours after totalling 11 40-point games in the regular season.
Brunson’s extension will begin with the 2025-26 season and his decision to take less money should help the Knicks manage their payroll after a busy offseason in which they re-signed OG Anunoby to a five-year contract worth more than $210 million and acquired Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets.
Jokic leads Serbia to Olympic bronze with dominant Germany win
Nikola Jokic played a starring role as Serbia put their Olympic semifinal disappointment behind them to clinch the bronze medal with a 93-83 win over Germany.
Serbia gave up a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter against the United States on Thursday as they narrowly missed out on a place in the final, but they responded strongly to ensure they did not leave Paris empty-handed.
Jokic was dominant in that game, and he provided the spark once more on Saturday as he finished with a triple-double, getting 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.
Vasilije Micic matched Jokic's tally of 19, while Bogan Bogdanovic, the program's all-time leading scorer, added 16.
After a promising start to the Olympics by Germany, they have trailed off in recent matches, and they struggled to match the early pace set by Serbia as they fell 30-21 behind in the first quarter.
Though they matched Serbia evenly in the second quarter, any hopes of getting their hands on their first Olympic basketball medal soon faded in the third, with the 19-point gap proving too much for them to turn over.
Serbia claimed their first medal in the Olympic event since earning silver in Rio 2016.
Embiid out to silence French jeers in Olympic final after choosing Team USA
Joel Embiid is out to silence a hostile French crowd when Team USA face the hosts in the men's basketball gold medal match at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.
Embiid, who was born in Cameroon but was granted US citizenship in 2022, declared for Team USA late last year after his home country failed to qualify.
That decision came after he also sought French citizenship, amid suggestions president Emmanuel Macron had called the Philadelphia 76ers star to convince him to represent the hosts.
Embiid has been jeered by French fans throughout the basketball tournament, with the USA winning all five of their games to date, reaching the final with Thursday's comeback victory over Serbia.
On the eve of Saturday's gold medal match, Embiid said: "Frankly, I don't understand why I've gotten a lot of criticism from the crowd.
"They're going to boo me. I'm going to go back at them and tell them to 'suck it.' It's going to be fun."
Reflecting on his decision to link up with LeBron James, Stephen Curry and company in representing the USA, Embiid said he would have played for Cameroon if they had qualified.
"Having lived half of my life in the US and the other half in my country, Cameroon, it just looked like it was, 'you could go two ways'," Embiid said.
"I said from the beginning that if Cameroon would've qualified, that would never have been a choice. Then having the family [in the US] and having built a lot of things and having accomplished a lot of things, knowing the group of guys deeply, it just made it easy.
"I think a lot of people wanted to make it an issue because of the storyline and all that stuff.
"But to me it's whatever it takes to win gold. So that's what I'm focused on. It's all about Team USA against France."
Curry hails 'no quit' attitude after stunning USA comeback
Stephen Curry praised the United States' "no quit" attitude after proving the hero in their thrilling comeback victory over Serbia in the Olympics semi-final.
Serbia entered the fourth quarter of the game with a 13-point lead, but a stunning late comeback from the USA, who have won gold in each of the last four Olympics, instead saw them prevail 95-91.
Curry starred for Team USA, scoring 36 points, the second-highest scoring game by an individual in the team's Olympic history, and his two free throws in the dying seconds ensured Serbia were unable to force any more drama.
And Curry explained how the lure of a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal spurred them to avoid the shock defeat.
"We talked about it the whole way, all summer," he said. "No matter how it looked, we were going to be challenged at some point.
"Outside of the exhibition series we had a pretty smooth road. Serbia are tough. They're a great team.
"Playing them three times, it's always hard to beat a team that many times, so to come back the way we did was amazing.
"We have no quit, and we know how much this means to win a gold medal with this group and the moment we have in front of us.
"Obviously, I hit the big three, but our defence carried us. Defence wins games in any league, especially in FIBA, so it was pretty special."
Serbia at one point held a 17-point lead in the first half, with NBA MVP Nikola Jokic getting 17 points and 11 assists, though they floundered in the closing stages.
While Curry took most of the headlines, LeBron James made his mark too, tying the game at 84-84 with four minutes remaining.
He got 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists to finish with a triple-double, becoming the first player ever to complete the feat twice at the Olympics.
He echoed Curry's sentiments on Serbia's strength, noting how that helped to get the best out of the USA.
"Give a lot of credit to Serbia," James said. "They gave us everything they had.
"It's a great team. They played exceptionally well. They tested us and we needed that."
The USA will face hosts France in the gold-medal match on Saturday.
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