The Dallas Mavericks have now successfully exported two franchise-level point guards to larger markets in four years, and the second one just won Finals MVP with the Knicks, which means the organization's talent evaluation process has been operating as a development program for other franchises' championships. The specific number is $104 million over four years, what New York paid Brunson in 2022 when Dallas declined to match, against whatever Dallas is currently paying its roster to watch this from home. In the bar near Central Ferry Pier 7 where the Finals screened at 10 a.m. on Monday, a third of the stools occupied by people following American basketball through whatever feed cleared their VPN, nobody was explaining who Jalen Brunson is. He does not require explanation in New York. He did not require matching in Dallas.

The NBA's broadcast arrangement in China, suspended formally in 2019 after Daryl Morey's tweet on Hong Kong and operating since then through a grey arrangement neither party has described publicly, prices Finals viewership against a roster of APAC-legible superstars. That roster is shorter now: LeBron aging, Luka Doncic one Finals run old without a ring, and Brunson, who is not a name that moves product in Chengdu. The league knows this. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has flagged the China rights negotiation for resolution before the end of 2026, and he is scheduled to meet China Basketball Association officials in Q3, the first formal meeting since 2021, with Tuesday's box score as current context.