Knicks' Jalen Brunson defends his dad amid NBA investigation

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The New York Knicks’ hire of assistant coach Rick Brunson in June of 2022 raised eyebrows at the time. And as of November 2024, the addition is still making headlines. SNY’s Ian Begley reported that the NBA was investigating the timing of the Knicks’ promotion of Brunson. The promotion occurred this offseason when associate head coach Johnnie Bryant departed for the same role with the Cavaliers.

Brunson’s promotion lines up with Bryant’s exit from the organization. But it also lines up with the team’s extension of his son, Jalen Brunson. And the league’s investigation centers around the $113 million “pay cut” Brunson took to stay a Knick. The NBA is exploring whether or not the promotion of assistant coach Rick Brunson and accompanying salary raise were unorthodox attempts at cap-circumvention.

Brunson’s title was not changed to “associate head coach,” the title Bryant had with the organization and has in Cleveland. But the team stated on Monday that Brunson “took Johnnie Bryant’s place and assumed the same salary as Bryant.” The existence of the investigation implies that the league has not ruled out that Rick Brunson was promoted by the Knicks, but not actually in title, to justify paying him additional money which would supplement his son’s income following the team-friendly extension.

After shootaround ahead of the Knicks’ Wednesday night tilt in Phoenix, the younger Brunson defended his father from his own perspective.

“For a person who has been around the NBA for a long time, who has been around [Thibodeau] for longer than he’s been around the NBA, I think he understands the business,” Brunson told reporters of his father.

“I think he understands the game, I think he understands the head coach. So he’s more than qualified. The way he’s taught me and raised me and how I’ve seen him impact others in all different levels of basketball, high school, college, pros. He’s more than qualified for that position.”

Rick Brunson and Tom Thibodeau go way back

Rick Brunson’s relationship with Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau goes back to Salem, MA in the early 1990s. That is indeed before the elder Brunson went undrafted in 1995 and eventually joined the NBA in 1997. The two have been coaching in tandem for decades, even going back to when Brunson was actively in the NBA. When the Knicks first hired Brunson, Ian Begley reported that the two were close when both employed by the Knicks in the late 1990s.

“He sat beside Thibodeau on the bench during games and has said that he did so because they had a close relationship and because he wanted to learn more about coaching, a goal for his post-playing career,” Begley wrote of Brunson and Thibodeau.

Brunson was the head coach at Camden High School in New Jersey at the time. And many questioned his leap back to the NBA level. Thibodeau had hired him before, with things not ending smoothly. Brunson resigned from his position with the Minnesota Timberwolves in May 2018 amidst allegations of workplace harassment.

Brunson’s attorney stated at the time that there had not been any findings of wrongdoing by the assistant. Brunson was acquitted on charges of sexual assault in 2015 and the Timberwolves hired him afterwards. Thibodeau alluded to this when questioned about the Knicks’ hiring of the assistant in 2022.

Brunson played in the NBA from 1997 to 2006 and wore eight different jerseys in that time. He has coached several levels of basketball and closely oversaw the development of his son Jalen, now a Knicks superstar. Brunson has had issues pop up in the past related to his coaching career. But if the NBA’s investigation is into his qualifications for his spot on the Knicks’ coaching staff, the findings will likely be that they are sufficient.

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