“Why do it unless you want to be the best?”
Sandra Brunson, Knicks star Jalen Brunson’s mom, remembers fondly the advice Kobe Bryant gave her son years ago, when Jalen was dreaming of going pro.
New York guard Jose Alvarado is declining his $4.5 million player option and intends to sign a new three-year, $14-plus million deal to return to the Knicks, sources tell ESPN. Knicks made it a priority to retain the NY native who played key role on a historic championship team.
That Jalen Brunson is even in the conversation to be the Knicks’ greatest player would have been unthinkable when he signed four years ago. At that point, he had proved to be a good complimentary player, but he was not yet a consensus centerpiece. Others questioned why the Knicks were paying such a sizable contract to a second-round draft pick.
Brunson and the Knicks never fully quieted the critics until they ripped through the playoffs this spring. The team was good, the prevailing opinion went for much of the past four seasons, but probably not *championship good.* Brunson faced parallel skepticism: Sure, he had proved to be among the NBA’s best, but could he lead a team that wins four playoff rounds? Brunson and his teammates, however, consistently rallied, turning deficits into leads, and leads into wins, including a stunning 29-point comeback in game four of the NBA Finals.
The Knicks’ championship was a citywide exorcism after more than 50 years of falling short. It was also vindication: for the Knicks, who saw Brunson as a franchise cornerstone when few others did, and for Brunson, who could permanently silence the critics. “This completely changes everyone’s opinion of him going forward,” his wife, Ali Marks Brunson said. “If you’re going to talk about Jalen, you’re going to have to mention that he was a Finals MVP, that he was a champion.”
In Brunson, New York didn’t land a finished product but a player who was still ascending — and, perhaps most crucially, one who wanted to be here. “We did everything we could to bring something back here,” he said. “The character and then everything that this team embodies, it means a lot to me. It means a lot to the city, and obviously having a championship puts the cherry on top.”
For our new Cover Story, Tom Kludt profiles the King of New York: https://t.co/XSshOYMQg7