Dallas is excited about the potential of Jalen Brunson.
The point guard who led Villanova to a national championship last April fell to the 33rd pick in the draft last June, high in the second round, and Dallas traded up a spot to get him from Atlanta. The Mavericks were ecstatic, and to the surprise of nobody they have reached terms on a contract with him.
It’s official, welcome to Dallas @jalenbrunson1 !!! 🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/9gWVayD3WE
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) July 16, 2018
What is a bit of a surprise is the Mavericks gave him a first-rounder style contract — four years with some guaranteed money for the first three of them — reports Shams Charania of The Vertical at Yahoo Sports.
Sources: The Dallas Mavericks are signing 33rd overall pick Jalen Brunson of Villanova to a four-year rookie deal, with three years guaranteed.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 16, 2018
At Summer League in Las Vegas Brunson showed the qualities that Dallas liked in him — he’s a high IQ player with polish, and he’s a pass-first floor general — but his weaknesses were also exposed. He has to shoot better (23 percent in Summer League) and his defense needs to improve.
Both of those can happen, Summer League is more of a chance for teams to benchmark players than make decisions about them. Brunson reportedly has a great work ethic, he can figure the NBA game out.
Dallas is betting that he will.