Mavs' Jalen Brunson mistake combines with constant Luka Doncic narrative

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May 26, 2026 - 11:15

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Mavs' Jalen Brunson mistake combines with constant Luka Doncic narrative originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Dallas Mavericks had Jalen Brunson and Luka Doncic at the same time.

The Mavs kept neither, though, and it's not looking like either move will age well.

The Doncic trade has gotten most of the attention. It's more recent, and at the time, it was a total shock that the Mavericks would trade one of the best players on the world to get older and more injury prone in the return package.

But the Brunson move is going to get plenty of attention now, too. The lefty guard has led the New York Knicks to the NBA Finals.

Brunson was the Eastern Conference Finals MVP, and if the Knicks are able to pull off a championship in the NBA Finals, it'll surely be in large part because of Brunson.

Future generations are going to think this is AI because surely no organization would be dumb enough to screw this up… pic.twitter.com/4xSQlCpUhn— Jason Gallagher (@jga41agher) May 26, 2026

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Brunson was a different situation for Dallas than Doncic. He reached free agency, and he had yet to reach stardom.

With the Mavs, Brunson began as a backup guard, but he flashed his potential in stretches of play when Doncic was unavailable.

He had shown enough that the Knicks gave him a 9-figure contract to go to New York City, but it wasn't a deal that everyone was convinced was the right one.

Brunson quickly proved that he was worth every penny the Knicks gave him, and then some. He turned them into a perennial contender for the first time in a long time. He got them to the conference finals a year ago, and they've gone a step further (at least) this season.

The Mavs, meanwhile, went to the Finals in Doncic's last full season there, then have missed the playoffs twice in a row. They got good lottery luck to end up with Cooper Flagg, and maybe that will help them turn things around soon.

But for now, Dallas got to watch Doncic continue to be a superstar with the Lakers, and now they're watching Brunson steal the show for the Knicks. It can't be a fun position to be in as a Mavericks fan.