Jalen Brunson, NBA Champion
June 30.
It marks the start of free agency, an event that once meant a lot more in the NBA world.
Nowadays, most star players are moved via trade. The way the NBA works, players are incentivized to sign extensions to create maximum contract value, so even if they aren’t willing to commit for the five years they sign for, they know they’ll make an ungodly amount of money.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe last real mega year for free agency was 2019, which also makes this the unfortunate seventh anniversary of the biggest nightmare in Knicks history.
A month and a half after losing out on the Zion Williamson sweepstakes in the 2019 draft lottery, Knicks fans had their hearts ripped out when both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving spurned them for the crosstown rival Brooklyn Nets.
It was the definitive low point in the history of this historic franchise. Three years later, to the day, everything changed at 9:33 pm.
It wasn’t some franchise-altering move. With the context at the time, it was just supposed to be a move to stabilize a long-problematic point guard position. The Knicks gave a nine-figure contract to a small, former second-round pick with limited starting experience. It was a gamble, even if the team’s cap sheet did not have a player making a prohibitive amount.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe pundits called it an overpay. They said he was just alright, but not worth his contract. He himself said on his first media day that he just wanted to help contribute to winning, that he was not a savior of any sort.
Well, in proving himself wrong, he proved every basketball fan in the world wrong.
Jalen Brunson was born on August 31, 1996, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His mother, Sandra, was a Division I volleyball player at Temple, while his father, Rick, was an NBA journeyman. When Jalen was born, Rick was starting his pro career with the Adelaide 36ers in Australia, meaning that he didn’t meet his son for a while. Leon Rose, in fact, held him before his own father.
AdvertisementAdvertisementGrowing up, the Brunsons would be on the road a lot. Rick would play in several different countries and a handful of NBA teams by the time his career wrapped up 10 years later. He spent the 1998-99 season with the Knicks, where Jalen met guys like Patrick Ewing, Latrell Sprewell, Allan Houston, and Tom Thibodeau. While we haven’t been regaled with his experiences in other locker rooms as a kid, his time in New York seems to have shaped him.
Rick would return to New York for 15 games at the end of the 2000-01 season, but other than that, the Knicks were just a small stop on his tiring NBA career. By the time the 2006-07 season rolled around, he had an opportunity to play with his hometown Philadelphia 76ers. With the Brunsons residing in South Jersey, for the first time, they’d have a real opportunity to be together all season.
And then, Rick was cut. Jalen was 10 years old, and he’s stated in interviews since that he remembers holding back tears, hearing his father was hanging it up. At that point, one Brunson’s NBA journey was over.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe other’s was just beginning.
“I don’t want you to live how I lived,” Rick told Jalen that night, according to a 2015 Sports Illustrated feature that I highly recommend reading for more on Jalen’s upbringing. “If you really want to be a ballplayer, listen to what I tell you, and you will take a different route.”
From there, Jalen would train relentlessly. His father would work him ragged, berate him at every turn, bully him into being a better version of himself. He made the righty Jalen play left-handed; he disciplined every last bit of self-righteousness, ego, and selfishness out of his son.
Even as someone with plenty of athletic genes from his parents, Jalen needed thousands upon thousands of hours of work to get to this point. He couldn’t just coast onto Big Boards because of his traits. The Brunsons moved from South Jersey to Chicago in 2010, when Rick got the job as an assistant coach on Thibodeau’s staff. This is where his son’s basketball journey really began.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAt Stevenson High School, he was a star by the time he was a sophomore. He dropped 57 points in a game as a junior. In his senior year in 2014-15, he was the best player in all of Illinois, leading Stevenson to a Class 4A state championship. Despite his small stature, his downright dominant play led to him being one of the highest ranked recruits in the nation.
Ranked as a five-star by 247Sports as the No. 31 overall prospect in the nation, Brunson was still behind the likes of Malik Newman, Isaiah Briscoe, Derryck Thornton, Juwan Evans, and Tyler Dorsey as a point guard. The only players in front of him in general that ever did anything in the NBA were Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram, Jaylen Brown, and Jamal Murray. Even Iso Zo was in front of him!
It’s hard to call a five-star recruit with an NBA father doubted, but he was clearly seen as beneath all these guys. Just more fuel to the fire, as he picked Villanova over Illinois for his next step in college basketball.
AdvertisementAdvertisementRight off the bat, Jay Wright did something that he rarely ever does. He started the true freshman right away, only bringing him off the bench one time against an undefeated Xavier team to start Big East play in December. He made 39 starts as a freshman, posting modest numbers and being named to the Big East All-Freshman Team. His impact would be limited in the big games, as he only played around 23 minutes a night during the NCAA Tournament, but he emerged as a national champion.
As a sophomore, his responsibilities increased. He averaged 14.7 points and 4.1 assists as the second leading scorer on one of the best teams in the nation, being named First-Team All-Big East.
He was a steady force for the Wildcats all season long, but faltered in the NCAA Tournament, being held down with the rest of his team in an embarrassing second-round exit to Wisconsin. Repeating is hard, but with Brunson’s stock not super high, he decided to return as a junior.
AdvertisementAdvertisementHis junior season was the stuff of legend. Named a Preseason All-American, he came out firing for a Nova team that started 13-0. 25 against Tennessee, four Big East games with at least 27 points, and a 31-point masterpiece against Providence in the Big East Championship Game.
Soon named the Naismith Player of the Year for his stupendous efforts, he took it into March Madness. Two so-so games in the first two rounds saw Villanova’s depth get them to the Sweet Sixteen, only for Brunson to drop 27 to beat a game West Virginia squad with Jevon Carter.
He took a backseat from there, scoring 15, 18, and just nine in the final three games while setting up for his teammates, Donte DiVincenzo and Mikal Bridges, to claim his second national championship. Finally, he’d go on to the NBA to redeem his father’s disappointment.
AdvertisementAdvertisementBut once again, he was doubted.
Despite being the best player in college basketball, he slid out of the first round. It wasn’t unusual to see this, given how Kansas’ Frank Mason fell similarly in 2017, but it was still disappointing. He proved how good he was, yet waited patiently while three of his teammates and the likes of Chandler Hutchison, Landry Shamet, Džanan Musa, Elie Okobo, and even the same Carter he outdueled in the Sweet Sixteen went over him.
His drop finally ended at No. 33, when the Dallas Mavericks added to their haul of Luka Doncic by drafting the proven winner. It would simultaneously be their biggest heist… and their biggest failure.
Playing time wasn’t guaranteed. Not only would Doncic be the team’s future at guard, but they spent a lottery pick on Dennis Smith Jr. the year before. He spent much of the year on the bench, but he got sporadic starting opportunities when Smith was injured.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThings changed, though, when Smith was jettisoned to New York in the Kristaps Porzingis trade. Brunson immediately got more playing time and started alongside Doncic for the final two months, while also learning from the retiring Dirk Nowitzki out the door, a consummate leader and professional. In a March game against the playoff-bound Spurs, he scored 34 points on just 16 shots.
It seemed like his future was bright, but he hit a snag in 2019-20. A reworked Mavericks team prioritized surrounding Doncic with off-ball shooters and defenders, prompting guys like Tim Hardaway Jr. and Delon Wright to get more opportunities. Couple that with a late-season shoulder injury, and it can be argued that Brunson had a sophomore slump, averaging fewer points and fewer minutes in just 57 games.
But the best can make the best of a bad situation, which is exactly what Brunson did. Despite spending much of his third season as the team’s sixth man, he took his game to another level and made himself indispensable. When he got extended minutes, he showed up. When the team entrusted him with closing games, he made the right plays. He finished fourth in Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2020-21, but the Mavericks crashed and burned in Round 1.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAt this point, entering his fourth season, Jalen had completed the mission statement. He was a real player for an NBA franchise, something that Rick was never able to accomplish. He had a real future ahead of him. The Mavericks inserted him in the starting lineup in mid-December 2021 after Doncic went down with injury, looking to see the kind of spark he could provide.
He’d never be put back on the bench.
In the final 55 regular-season games, he averaged 17.1 points and 4.8 assists on 50.6/39.2/86.9 splits. By the time Luka returned a few weeks later, Jason Kidd didn’t dare put him back on the bench. In December, Brunson’s camp went back to the Mavs brass to try and get a $55 million extension done after the two sides couldn’t agree in the offseason.
Dallas said no.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAfter the trade deadline, Dallas was finally willing to give their burgeoning young guard that extension.
Brunson said no.
Come playoff time, Doncic was once again sidelined with a calf injury, handing the reins to Brunson to start the playoff run against Donovan Mitchell and the Utah Jazz.
With a certain front office contingent in the stands, Brunson scored 24 in a close loss in Game 1. Two days later, he dropped 41 to even up the series. He scored another 31 in a Game 3 win. Even when Doncic returned, Brunson was the catalyst in a six-game series win, averaging 27.8 points a game.
Another 28-point outburst in Game 3 against Phoenix won a crucial swing game. He scored 24 in a blowout Game 7 that sent that franchise spiraling. Even in a doomed five-game series against Golden State in the Western Conference Finals, he had 31 in Game 2 and walked off the floor after the best 18-game stretch of his NBA career after Game 5 with his future unknown.
As he entered free agency, his market had ballooned. In June, the Knicks made it clear that they wanted to bring the Jersey native home. They hired Rick as an assistant on Thibodeau’s staff, they maneuvered around the draft to clear cap space.
AdvertisementAdvertisementFor a team coming off a disappointing 45-loss season and a failed Kemba Walker experiment, they had three options. Blow it up by trading Julius Randle and go back into a rebuild, continue to build methodically, or go star chasing.
They wanted to do No. 3, probably, but they didn’t want to go all-out for Donovan Mitchell or Dejounte Murray. I wouldn’t call Brunson a consolation prize, but that’s what the media probably believed.
In a sweepstakes that the NBA later constituted as tampering, Brunson chose New York four years ago to this day. Four years, $104 million. He considered returning to Dallas on a buffed-up deal and even flirted with Pat Riley down in Miami, but home was calling.
It was immediately called an overpay by every pundit out there. CBS Sports said he was a clear bust candidate. Nick Wright called it the saddest sweepstakes ever. Stephen A. Smith said he wasn’t the answer. Bill Simmons said he wasn’t a marquee talent.
More doubters, more people he had to prove wrong.
AdvertisementAdvertisementWhen he was introduced, he didn’t promise anything special. He didn’t promise to be a savior. He just wanted to bring stability and progress to a franchise that had not had a stable starting point guard in a decade and a half.
Things started pretty well. It was abundantly clear that this was the best point guard the team had in a long time, but it wasn’t anything special… yet. He recorded three consecutive 30-point games in November 2022, but the Knicks lost two of those games.
We all have different answers for when we thought Brunson might just be different. Some say they knew as early as his 27-13-7 masterpiece against Charlotte in October. My answer? When he capped a brilliant 30-point effort against the Bulls by crossing Alex Caruso out of his shoes:
He just kept hooping. 38 against San Antonio, 44 against Giannis and the Bucks. In 15 games in the month of January, he averaged 28.7 points on 44.7% from downtown. He kept it going with 41 in an overtime loss to the Clippers. The Knicks were good, but not great yet. He was snubbed from both the All-Star Game and All-NBA in Year 1, but showed that the sky was the limit with 48 against the Cavaliers in late March.
His first playoff run as a Knick started innocently enough with a solid series against an overmatched Cavs team, but he got enough support around him that he didn’t need to be legendary. But against Erik Spoelstra, Jimmy Butler, and the Heat? He was all alone, and he rose like a phoenix.
AdvertisementAdvertisement30 in a Game 2 win.
32 and 11 in Game 4.
38-9-7 in a Game 5 win.
In Game 6, he dropped 41 points on 14-for-22 from the field and 5-for-10 from three. The rest of the team shot 26.5% from the field and 5-for-25 from deep. He had absolutely no help.
By the end of it, Spoelstra sang his praises. A man who’s led some of the best teams of the modern era and seen transcendent talent after transcendent talent called Brunson the truth.
It was an endorsement we hadn’t quite seen yet. Sure, Kendrick Perkins and a few other small voices stated their belief, but the consensus going into 2023-24 was that he wasn’t good enough.
AdvertisementAdvertisementWhile it was now clearly his team after Randle’s playoff escapades, nobody believed he was a No. 1 option. In December 2023, Inside the NBA ran a segment about the Knicks stagnating as a good but not great team in the East.
For some ridiculous reason, Becky Hammon decided to turn it into a spiel about why small players can’t win a championship. Nevermind the fact that the discussion was merely about how the Knicks get to the top of the East and that she later said that Joel Embiid qualified as a 1A because of his size while being unable to get past the second round, but that’s besides the point.
For the rest of his career, this clip would be used whenever he struggled, failed, or fell short. No exceptions. The only way he could stop it was by winning.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThat’s not to say he didn’t try initially, though. His second season with the Knicks was even better, averaging a blistering 28.7 points and 6.7 assists with good efficiency, carrying an undermanned team that missed both Randle and OG Anunoby for much of the second half to the East’s No. 2 seed with limited offensive help.
He made his first All-Star team, was named Second-Team All-NBA, and even came fifth in MVP voting. As the season progressed, you could see the star that was burgeoning in front of us. He scored 50 with the most efficient second half in the history of the sport against Phoenix early in the season.
He dropped 61 in a loss to the Spurs late in the season, where Victor Wembanyama dropped 40/20 and an exhausted Brunson not only failed to break the franchise’s single-game points record, but ran out of gas at the end of the game.
40-point games were the norm in the second half. He sustained a scary knee injury in March in Cleveland, but was back on the floor five days later. With the world collapsing around him, he put up the best individual season by a Knick in decades.
AdvertisementAdvertisementIn the playoffs? Superman put on his cape again. After struggling in the first two games against Philly, the same team that ended his dad’s NBA career, he averaged 41 points and 10 assists in the final four games to send them home.
Against Indiana, he did his best to overcome more and more injuries, destroying the team around him. Two more 40-balls later, the series was tied at three heading into a Game 7 at MSG, but the injury bug finally caught up to him. Already without Randle, Anunoby, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Mitchell Robinson, and with both Josh Hart and Isaiah Hartenstein badly hurting, Brunson fractured his hand on Tyrese Haliburton’s kneecap in the third quarter.
His season, and the team’s season, was over.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAround that time, he also learned he was snubbed from the 2024 Paris Olympics’ roster in favor of guys like Haliburton and Jayson Tatum. Once again, he was passed over for people he had outplayed. The fractured hand would’ve likely kept him off regardless, but he was never even considered.
By the time he put the orange and blue back on the following season, the team was totally different. DiVincenzo and Randle were gone; Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges were here. Never again would they allow themselves to be caught with their pants down without any star power.
Brunson’s usage would never be as high as it was in 2023-24 again, so you didn’t see the weekly 40-piece as part of his diet. He had just three of them all season long, but one of them was a 55-point masterpiece against Washington in late December.
But being a facilitator wasn’t his biggest strength. He had a 17-assist game in November, but only had one other game over 12. His season was more about consistently maintaining his 26-point scoring average and his exploits as the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year, consistently bailing out a team that wasn’t deep nor schematically superior enough to dominate.
He finally donned his cape again in the playoffs. With every possession so crucial, Thibodeau’s offense ground to a halt, and they relied on him to bail them out. He scored 30 in five of the six games against Detroit, most notably his 40 in the closeout Game 6 that sent Ausar Thompson flying and the Pistons home.
He didn’t have to do too much in a Boston series that was more focused on relentless defense and grit, but he outdueled Jayson Tatum with 39 in a Game 4 win that broke the defending champions’ spirit.
In a rematch against Indiana, he scored 79 total points in the first two games, both losses. Despite averaging 30.7 points on above-average efficiency for a guard, Indiana’s offense wrecked a helpless Knicks defense, sending them home in six games.
AdvertisementAdvertisementWith three failed playoff runs, there were serious doubts creeping in about Brunson’s ability to be the best player on a championship team. Sure, the media had been saying this for years, but even the fanbase was starting to worry. For the first time in several years, mock trades were beginning to get a new 1A. Those Giannis rumors in the offseason didn’t help.
A tumultuous 2025-26 season didn’t help. Recurring ankle injuries made the 29-year-old a step slower and less consistent. His shot wasn’t falling as often as before. The new Mike Brown system had players around him questioning their roles, leading to uncertainty all around. The highlight of the regular season was the run to the NBA Cup Final, where Brunson took home NBA Cup MVP.
He still made Second-Team All-NBA, but after gaining the respect of so many in the prior two years, the media began circling again as the Knicks scuffled early in the postseason.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThey called Cade Cunningham better. They called Tyrese Maxey better. They called Haliburton better. Multiple reporters posted All-NBA ballots that even had the likes of Chet Holmgren, Deni Avdija, Jalen Duren, Jalen Johnson, and Derrick White over him.
The PR machine had flipped, no more so than his failed late-game execution in Games 2 and 3 against Atlanta. His entire Knicks tenure had been defined by always being the best player on the floor in the clutch.
We all know that something big happened in the locker room after that Game 3, but you also have to think of the switch that flipped mentally for some of these players, some of the realizations that they made.
If this is how they went out, what would happen next?
For Brunson, he knew this franchise was still his, but he surely thought of everything around him. Would another disappointing exit prompt his two Villanova buddies to be ushered out the door? Would his dad be let go to make room for a new voice on the staff? Would James Dolan get rid of Leon Rose, a longtime family friend of the Brunsons, who, along with Thibodeau, made the decision to come to New York much easier than it must’ve been?
And even his own financials. He took a massive pay cut in 2024 to help build this team, hoping that he’d be repaid down the road with a mega extension in 2028. But if he’s already regressing now and the team is going nowhere, why would they give him $400 million?
The switch flipped for him and the team the following game. In Game 5, he scored 39 at the World’s Most Famous Arena, finally solving the Dyson Daniels puzzle and putting a dagger into Atlanta’s hearts that they never recovered from.
Against Philly, he replayed the hits from 2024, just against a much sadder edition of the Sixers. 35 points in a Game 1 blowout, 33 points in a Game 3 that stole their soul. Ho hum.
Then came the Eastern Conference Finals. A chance at redemption, this time against a similar Cavs team to the one they dispatched in 2023. Unfortunately for them, the rust was evident and they were getting blitzed in Game 1.
93-71. Under eight to go. Brunson tried to rally the troops, but it was likely all for naught.
But that’s the thing about the Brunson era. When someone writes you off, you don’t write back. He absolutely decimated James Harden 1-on-1 for what felt like six minutes straight and willed the Knicks back in it, dropping 38 points in the greatest comeback in franchise playoff history.
He didn’t really do much the remainder of the series, outside of a casual 30 in Game 3, but was still named Eastern Conference Finals MVP for his troubles. The man who claimed he wasn’t a savior had brought the Knicks to the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years.
All that stood in their way? Wemby and the Spurs. The new guard of the NBA that threatened to dominate the sport for the next decade. Almost everyone believed that the Knicks would be their first victims. After all, the West was the much tougher conference!
They doubted Brunson again, but he and his team proved them wrong one more time.
Despite some hellacious defense holding him down in the first three games, it was Brunson who made the big plays to win Games 1 and 2. He walked them down in Game 1 and was able to find the will to overcome a late 14-0 run in Game 2 to hit the crucial shots and get the game-clinching steal.
In Game 4, when the Knicks went down 29, he helped will them back again with the help of a tremendous game by Anunoby. Down by four in the final two minutes, he sized up the 7’5″ freak of nature and cashed a triple right in his face. There’s no fear around these parts.
In Game 5, we got another version of Miami Game 6.
Nobody was helping him. Towns was in foul trouble and couldn’t get going. Bridges and Anunoby were inconsistent. The bench was awful. The Knicks were down 15, and once again, they looked to Brunson.
This time, it wasn’t to save their season, it was to end someone else’s and end 53 years of misery.
Out of the 94 points the Knicks scored in their championship-clinching Game 5, he scored 45 of them. In a game where nobody had it, he was all they needed. Shot after shot, possession after possession.
He just wouldn’t let them lose. Not now. He waited his whole life for this.
He said he wasn’t a savior. He lied.
He has a case to be the greatest Knick in the 80-year history of his franchise. The stats and success of Patrick Ewing and Clyde Frazier, respectively, might argue differently, but he is undoubtedly the most important player in the history of the Knicks.
Without him, they might still be aimlessly wandering the desert. Without everything he’s done for this team, we all might’ve grown old and died without seeing a championship.
How could the Knicks have been so blessed to not only get such a tremendous talent with the heart of a lion to get better and better, but to get one of the best overall leaders that the league has seen in decades?
In 2024, he could’ve waited a year and signed a $269 million extension. Instead, he inked a new one for $156 million. That extra money allowed the Knicks to fit the contracts for his comrades and is allowing Alvarado and Shamet to still be here to this day.
The Knicks have been down double digits dozens of times in the playoffs since he’s gotten here, but they keep winning. They’ve come back down 20+ on five different occasions in two years. They’ve overcome deficits of at least 14 nine times.
It not only takes a level of talent to overcome bad starts like this, but composure. Mental fortitude. It takes a lifetime of knowing that it’s not over until the final whistle to be able to do this game in and game out.
There was a time people doubted that the Knicks had the grit and desire to overcome adversity (ahem, Vince Goodwill). They might just be the most mentally tough team to ever play organized basketball.
This tribute piece is 5,000 words long. It’s the culmination of 53 years of agony, heartbreak, and disappointment. It’s the end of a series that’s seen us honor all 18 members of this championship roster.
The timing is perfect. This (maybe) was published on the exact moment four years after Jalen Brunson signed in New York.
I’d argue that the start of this championship ascent started with hiring Leon Rose, but this real era of Knicks basketball that will go down in history officially started on that late June night.
13-year-old me had his heart broken on June 30, 2019. The last remaining semblance of hope I had surrounding this franchise was gone when KD and Kyrie went to Brooklyn. Porzingis was gone, Zion was a Pelican, and now nobody was coming to save this sinking ship.
16-year-old me was happy seeing Brunson, someone whom I once watched at the 2017 Big East Championship Game as a Nova fan, join the team on June 30, 2022. I thought we needed more than that offseason, but I always knew he was a super talented player who would stabilize the point guard position.
And now, 20-year-old me is writing this, enjoying the 16 days it’s been since I saw something I never thought I’d see. It’s surreal to have watched all of this happen, to see all the ways this franchise has been improbably changed forever.
Porzingis is at the Golden State retirement home. Irving and Durant’s legacies are those of people who needed the help of all-time greats to ever win anything. None of them wanted to take on the challenge that Brunson showed would be so gratifying to complete.
Who would’ve ever thought we’d be talking about veterans’ ring chasing, defending a championship, ring night, and retiring jersey numbers???
Whenever Brunson’s career ends, he’ll end up in the Basketball Hall of Fame, have No. 11 raised to the rafters of the Mecca of Basketball, and go down as one of the best to ever play the game. If the NBA re-did the NBA 75 right now, he’d be on it. When they do the top-100 in 2046, he’ll be honored. It won’t just be for what he’s done for this city, but that’ll be a very big part.
The most improbable NBA champion in decades, in the biggest basketball city in the world, led by someone who everyone thought was too small, not quick enough, not strong enough.
It’s not just worth a Ben Stiller documentary, an ESPN 30-for-30, or endless YouTube video essays and articles. It’s worth a biopic in Hollywood.
If you pitched the entire story of Jalen Brunson as a screenwriter, you’d be shot down for lack of realism
That’s how awesome this is.
May you like
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(This concludes P&T’s player-by-player tributes to commemorate the special team that ended our long, half-century nightmare)
