Jalen Brunson inspired by Derek Jeter, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes in new deal
NY Post
Jalen Brunson’s $156.5 million extension with the New York Knicks may have been a recent NBA revelation, but there’s some key context that seems to have inspired the deal.
As part of his reporting on Brunson’s innovative contract to stay in the Big Apple, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski suggested that the MVP candidate reviewed other generational sports icons’ contracts across the other three major American sports.
“Brunson’s study of championship organizations and franchise stars — Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs, the Tom Brady New England Patriots and the Derek Jeter New York Yankees — gave him a blueprint for MVP-level players who structured contracts to give their teams the best chances at sustainable title runs,” Wojnarowski wrote.
Across six championship-winning seasons in New England, Brady was rarely among the highest-paid quarterbacks in the sport.
For example, even after bumping his average annual value from $9 million to $20.5 million in 2016, Brady still sat only 12th among quarterbacks in AAV.
That selflessness enabled New England to keep stars like Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Nate Solder and Dont’a Hightower for a myriad of seasons.
With the Yankees on an impressive run of mostly correct decisions, there’s some reason to leave them alone and just let the best team in the American League continue to roll. But they did raise serious doubt and leave room for suggestions (and even ridicule) following maybe the most inexplicable decision of this season, or any season.
The Giants have never been 0-2 under Brian Daboll, until now. They were 2-0 and flying high in 2022 and 1-1 after a rousing comeback in Arizona in 2023. So, this represents a low point as far as early-season difficulties for Daboll and the Giants. They had no business beating the Vikings in the opener and no business losing to the Commanders in Week 2. But here they are.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Harrison Butker kept making a lonely walk to midfield after each quarter Sunday to check on the direction of the wind, which tends to swirl inside Arrowhead Stadium. He did it one last time during the 2-minute warning, when his Chiefs were trailing the Bengals by two and trying to give him a winning field-goal attempt.