Was Jalen Brunson the greatest FA signing of all time?

[Chokic]

Having watched Brunson lead Villanova to national championship twice(which is an incredible feat) i knew he was gonna be very good in the league. He's a natural leader and floor general not "physically gifted" like typical highly touted pg prospects but brings so much intangibles to the table. A winner. I knew Dallas was gonna regret letting him go.

[chrisab123]

Steve Nash or Billups would be the correct answer.

Here’s another one who should be mentioned but obviously his impact isn’t as great as Brunson or the other two, Gilbert Arenas. Jimmy Butler to the Heat as well, which if people recall people were kind of down on after his tenure in Philly. He redefined Heat Culture.

[CS707]

Not one Joe Smith mention?

Disappoint.

[Narigo]

Chauncey Billups or Steve Nash. Both of these guys were not thought to be that good when they signed to Detroit or Phoenix respectively

Nash was a 2-time all-star, twice 3rd team All-NBA. He had flaws ,sure, but if he's wasn't good then it's a very limited definition of good.

True. But no one thought he'll be a MVP level player when he signed with the Suns

[sp6r=underrated]

Chauncey Billups or Steve Nash. Both of these guys were not thought to be that good when they signed to Detroit or Phoenix respectively

Billups and Nash are excellent candidates. The OP's question is a good one because any team would have signed Lebron in 2011. That wasn't the case for these three.

[sp6r=underrated]

Not one Joe Smith mention?

Disappoint.

How many 1st round picks did Minnesota lose for that tampering incident? You can make a great argument Minnesota's decision to tamper for Joe Smith is a top 20 or so important management decision of the last 30 years given that it led to Minnesota wasting much of KG's career.

[Doctor MJ]

Steve Nash?

I think Nash is almost impossible to top in terms of not mere surprise, but in an actual paradigm shift that has spun out vortexes of cognitive dissonance ever since.

But Brunson to the Knicks is surely up there.

[bkkrh]

Based on OPs criteria I'd personally go:

1. Billups
2. Nash (better indivivual career, but from a team perspective a title and FMVP has of course more value)
3. Brunson

Allan Houston was also a great free agent signing for the Knicks.

[KnicksGadfly]

randle was probably the better signing IMO. He put the knicks on the map, esp after they struck out in the KD sweepstakes. If he doesn't make the knicks attractive, Brunson likely doesn't come here

Wrong. Randle put the Knicks on the map during his second year. His first and third years were horrible, and it was after that third year, in 2021-2022, when the Knicks crashed and burned and finished in 11th place in the east, that we signed Brunson. There was nothing attractive about that team.

Brunson probably saved Julius Randle’s career.

[Stannis]

Yeah, a lot of people didn't read the OP.

Of course, on the surface, a FA signing like Miami's LBJ, Laker's Shaq, GSW's KD were better merely because they were already established superstars. But those were "easy" FA signings, meaning those teams already had the pieces and cap space in place. They were already established playoff teams. And the decision was indeed up to the underlying player.

But the Knicks were "obsessed" with Brunson for a while. They saw he was overshadowed by Luka. They saw him as a supreme talent and somebody who could turn the franchise around.

So, Knicks actually managed to rebuild through a FA. Brunson wasn't drafted. He wasn't ring-chasing and joining other superstars. Knicks really did their scouting here.

IMHO, this will go down as one of the greatest FA signings of all time.

Not saying the best player to be signed as a FA (that would be LeBron or Shaq). But those are just recruiting jobs of MVP level guys, while paying them everything you can. Maybe good execution, but it's 90% their decision.
The Knicks identified a guy who was coming off the bench, recruited him for months, cleared the cap to make him an offer that was considered an overpay by many at the time, and then he became a borderline MVP level guy and the best contract in the league.
In my 30 years following the NBA I can't think of anything close to that.

[Myth]

Heat signing Lebron and Warriors signing KD prob take the cake there.

But yes, obv Brunson has had a massive impact on the Knicks organization already. Now let's see how far he can lead 'em.

I’m going to say Durant on a technicality. Lebron was sign-and-traded to the Heat.