Report: Knicks expected to get penalized for tampering with Jalen Brunson

Jalen Brunson reportedly decided before free agency officially opened to sign with the Knicks.

Is there any way New York didn’t tamper with Brunson while he was still under contract with the Mavericks?

This situation has numerous layers. The Knicks hired Brunson’s father, Rick Brunson, as an assistant coach. Knicks president Leon Rose is a longtime family friend of the Brunsons. Rose’s son, Sam Rose, is Jalen Brunson’s agent. Knicks executives William Wesley (“World Wide Wes”) and Allan Houston and forward Julius Randle attended a Mavericks-Jazz playoff game in Dallas.

But this is also a classic case of a team losing a player and being upset about it.

Fred Katz of The Athletic:

From what I’ve gathered, the Mavericks are quite frustrated with the Knicks — and not just because reports of a finished deal came out before New York was even allowed to speak with Brunson (though I am not sure how tampering rules account for father-son relationships, and this situation involves two of those). Dallas wasn’t thrilled about Knicks executive William “World Wide Wes” Wesley showing up courtside to a Mavs-Jazz playoff game, either.

People I talk to around the league expect the Knicks to get dinged for tampering.

The NBA’s tampering enforcement seems arbitrary. But a common aspect of tampering cases: A team complains.

If the Mavericks are frustrated enough to file a complaint, the Knicks are more likely to get investigated.

Brunson could just deny the credible-sounding report that turned out to be accurate. He could claim he didn’t hear from the Knicks until free agency opened and didn’t make up his mind until after that – that Shams Charania of The Athletic had it wrong. If the Knicks tampered, all the familial ties between them and