I dunno. It sure seems like NY was the plan all along with his father going to the Knicks as the Asst Coach a week after the Mavs season ended. Those coincidences don’t happen by accident.
I would buy that, if his father went to the Knicks months before the season ended. Rick Brunson going there a week after the Mavs were eliminated in the WCF says "This is our free agency strategy", not "this has been agreed months or a year before", and doesn't contradict anything Brunson was saying.
Anyway, the important points of the story, which could conceivably be under factual dispute, are:
1) Jalen/agent went to Cuban before the season, offered to take 4/$55, was rebuffed
2) Jalen/agent went to Cuban 20 games into the season, offered to take 4/$55, was rebuffed
3) Cuban came to Jalen/agent after the trade deadline, offered the 4/$55 extension, Brunson said no at that point
4) After the Mavs lose in the WCF, Cuban goes on air and says "we can pay [Brunson] the most money", but then an offer never comes to Brunson from the Mavs during moratorium
5) The Knicks made the most attractive offer in free agency, which matched up well with Brunson's personal interests as well as financially
If all of that is true, particularly #1 and #2, then it can't have "been the plan all along" for him to go to the Knicks, because that would have shot "the plan" in the head.
Now, it's possible that #4 is technically correct, but by the time moratorium comes, his agent is getting vibes from the Knicks and is rebuffing Cuban on behalf of Brunson, so a formal offer never comes because they were never outbidding the Knicks. And that would be slightly untoward, but well within the usual pre-free-agency maneuvering. But even then, in the most charitable case, Cuban still bungled it bigtime, because the horse had long left the barn by then.
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