Jalen Brunson defends father Rick as NBA probes Knicks coach’s promotion

PHOENIX – Jalen Brunson didn’t want to comment on the NBA looking at his father’s promotion and contract as a potential salary cap bypass, but the point guard certainly had a message for anyone who questioned Rick Brunson’s coaching credentials.

“He’s more than qualified for that position,” Jalen Brunson said Wednesday morning.

“He’s somebody who’s been around the NBA for a long time, who’s been around (Tom Thibodeau) longer than he’s been around the NBA. I think he understands the business, I think he understands the game, I think he understands the head coach. So he’s more than qualified. Look at the way he’s taught me and brought me up and how I’ve seen him influence others at all different levels of basketball – high school, college , professionals.”

Late Monday night, the Knicks released a statement condemning the NBA for investigating Rick’s promotion to head assistant.

The assumption is that the NBA explored the possibility that the raise was tied to Jalen taking a team-friendly contract extension in the same offseason.

If it was, there is an argument that represents bypassing caps.

But MSG Sports criticized the NBA’s concerns as “offensive,” noting that former top assistant Johnnie Bryant had left the position by going to Cleveland and that Rick Brunson, an NBA assistant for 10 seasons on five teams (including three with Thibodeau ), “has done a great job and will continue to do so.”

“We see this as more harassment of the Knicks because of our opposition to certain NBA matters,” MSG Sports concluded in its statement, a reference to James Dolan, who persistently opposes commissioner Adam Silver.

Jalen said the NBA had not reached out to him about his father, although a league source said the Knicks were contacted.

A spokesman for the league declined to comment.

Jalen has consistently called his father the most important person in his basketball development, including a successful effort by Rick to make his son left-handed, starting when he first played on a Little Tikes hoop.

“He helped me work on my game since I told him I wanted to be a professional basketball player,” said Jalen, a natural righty who shoots lefty. “Whether I was mad, happy, whatever, he would always ask me before and after every practice, ‘Is this what you want to do for a living?’ And the answer was always ‘Yes’.

“He pushes me every single day and he still does.”

Rick has been an assistant in the NBA, NCAA and head coach at Camden High School where he won the 2022 Tournament of Champions of New Jersey.

Before that, Rick was an NBA journeyman for nine seasons, including three with the Knicks, while Thibodeau was an assistant under Jeff Van Gundy.

He was hired as a Knicks assistant the same season Jalen joined the team as a free agent in 2022.

Former Mavs owner Mark Cuban singled out Rick as the reason Jalen didn’t resign with Dallas, saying negotiations “went south when Rick took over.”

Rick recently responded by saying the Mavericks chose not to re-sign his son when they had the option and made “a business decision” to let him hit free agency.

“I did not interfere; I have been involved,” said the elder Brunson. “That’s my son. …I’m a father first, then a coach.”

After a 2022 NBA investigation into Jalen’s signature, the Knicks were found guilty of tampering and forced to forfeit a second-round pick.

Recently, Rick was in the news for a verbal back and forth with Donte DiVincenzo, the former Knick who returned to the Garden in the preseason with the Timberwolves.

Rick said the two quickly made amends.