Fantasy Basketball Trade Thought: Should You Trade For/Away Knicks' Jalen Brunson?

When perusing the FantasySP NBA trade analyzer today, I kept seeing Jalen Brunson in the popular trades section.

I decided to break down those trades from each side of things, just like I did during the fantasy football season. Let’s dive in!

Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including waiver pickups, projections, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant. Use our fantasy basketball trade analyzer to break down trade scenarios.

Brunson’s Season

Since Brunson is the focus of this article, let’s break down his season so far.

Brunson has played in 46 of the 48 games the New York Knicks have played so far this season. New York currently sits in third place in the Eastern Conference, with Brunson being a big reason why.

The sixth-year guard is averaging a career high 26.8 points per game across 35.7 minutes played. He’s also averaging 3.8 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.2 blocks per game.

Brunson is shooting 48% from the field, 42.2% from 3-point land and 83.6% from the free-throw line.

All those strong numbers have Brunson as a popular name in our trade value charts, with him currently sitting in 13th overall. 

Popular Trades

One popular trade has fantasy teams swapping Brunson for Charlotte Hornets’ LaMelo Ball. Another has Brunson being moved for Sacramento Kings’ Keegan Murray and San Antonio Spurs’ Tre Jones. The third popular trade involving Brunson has him being moved for Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James.

Let’s break down these three trades, from the perspective of both teams.

Ball currently comes in 49th on our trade value charts. His number could be a bit higher if he hadn’t missed so much time already this season - he’s also dinged up right now.

Murray checks in 120th on our trade value charts, while Jones is 84th. James is currently ninth.

One way to compare the players against each other is by strictly using stats, like at this link.

Brunson is the top-scoring player, with James at 24.9 points and Ball at 23.9. Murray and Jones combine for 25.6 points per game, which would put them slightly behind Brunson.

Unsurprisingly, James is the best rebounder of the bunch at 7.5 per game. Ball averages 5.1 boards, while Jones and Murray combine for 8.6.

Ball is the top assist guy at 8 per game. James is right behind him at 7.7, while Jones and Murray combine for 7.3 assists.

Ball also has the top mark in steals (1.8). James is at 1.3 steals per game, while Jones and Murray combine for 2.2.

James has 0.6 blocks per game. Murray is also at 0.6 blocks per game, with Jones averaging just 0.1 blocks. Ball is at 0.2 blocks per game.

James is the most efficient shooter at 52%. Jones is at 50.2%. Murray (46.9%) and Ball (43.3%) come in at lower percentages than Brunson.

Brunson is the best 3-point shooter of the bunch, while Jones is the worst (by quite a bit). Jones leads everyone in free throw percentage, with James at the lowest mark. 

When debating a fantasy trade, it’s beneficial to think of each player’s situation. 

Brunson is the lead dog for the Knicks most nights, although Julius Randle is only a couple points behind him. Brunson also has OG Anunoby to contend for points against.

Ball is the leader for Charlotte, even more so with Terry Rozier no longer around. Miles Bridges has had a strong season and Brandon Miller appears to be developing into a superstar too, but it might be a season before Miller really shines.

Murray and Jones are both role players for their respective teams. Murray is third on Sacramento in scoring, behind De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis. He also has Malik Monk to contend with. In San Antonio, Victor Wembanyama is the leading scorer. Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, Zach Collins and Jeremy Sochan all average more points per game than Jones right now.

James is the unquestioned leader on whatever team he’s playing for, but Anthony Davis is averaging the same amount of points per game and certainly serves as the best fantasy option quite often.

Trade Breakdowns

Now that we’ve thrown some statistics at you and added in each player’s current situation, it’s time to break down these offers from each perspective.

I’m a big fan of Brunson and expect him to continue leading the Knicks for the remainder of the season. I also really like Ball, but his injury woes concern me a touch. I think Charlotte will play things safe the rest of the season with Ball, which means less games played.

If I was offered Ball for Brunson, I wouldn’t accept. I’d prefer to make it a larger deal to offset Ball playing less games. If I was offered Brunson for Ball, I’d take that in a heartbeat.

The Murray and Jones deal for Brunson is definitely intriguing, and makes the deal a little more complex. It makes sense to add two good fantasy assets if your team is top heavy, or dealing with a multitude of injuries. In points leagues, the duo has outscored Brunson by 407 to this point of the season.

Whether I accept the trade or not really comes down to how my roster currently looks. If I’m looking to round out my team some more, I’d deal Brunson away for Jones and Murray. If I’m on the other side of the deal and trying to acquire Brunson, my team is probably in pretty good shape as is and can afford to move Murray and Jones, so I’m also OK with accepting from this point of view.

As for the James and Brunson deal, that’s a tricky one. James is probably going to play in a couple less games the rest of the way, so I’m factoring that into things too. They are separated by 145 points right now (with James ahead of Brunson) in points leagues, and that’s with James playing two less games.

If I had Brunson and was offered James, I’d do the deal as long as I was set at guard without Brunson. If I wasn’t set at guard, I’d try to expand on the deal. If I was on the other side of things and wanted Brunson, James isn’t a guy I’d want to move straight up for him. I’d again try to expand the deal to even the point total out a bit more.

Utilizing the Trade Analyzer

At the top of the trade analyzer page is the actual analyzer. Let’s run these offers through it to see what it suggests.

The Brunson for Ball deal is fairly one-sided toward Brunson, with about an eight-point difference. If you’re trying to use this as the framework for a deal, some more value needs to be added to the Ball side of the deal, whether that be a single player or adding a player to each side of the deal. Use the trade value charts to identify some players that might make a deal work.

Our trade analyzer likes moving Brunson for Murray and Jones, with that side of the deal actually coming out six points ahead. That’s probably what it would take for a fantasy owner to move a star like Brunson though.

As for the Brunson and James deal, it’s close, with the James’ side coming out two points ahead. As I mentioned before, just a little tweaking here and there with the deal could make that a beneficial one for both sides.

If you are also interested in trading for/away Brunson, there's plenty of other player options that could get the job done. Utilize the trade value charts and trade analyzer to cook something up! Happy trading!