Jay Wright, who coached all four players during his legendary career at Villanova, is as big a Jalen Brunson fan as you’ll find. But even he was shocked by the way Brunson has upshifted from merely excellent to practically undeniable. “When LeBron does it, I kind of get it. But I’m still surprised that in playoff games, when the defense is set to stop Jalen from scoring, he can still get 40,” Wright said. “Michael Jordan, LeBron, Kobe, they’re the guys that I think of doing that: No matter what your game plan is, he’s going to figure out a way to get 30. Maybe.” But Jalen keeps putting up 40. And 40, Wright said, “is crazy.”
It was enough to put Brunson in contention for the final spot on this past summer’s gold-medal-winning Team USA Olympics roster. And while Brunson broke his hand in the Knicks’ season finale in May, he reminded me that the injury didn’t actually change his fate. “So, let’s clarify, for sure,” he said. “The team was chosen before I broke my hand.” He was rooting for Team USA, he told me, and didn’t hold any grudges. “But I clearly want to be out there and playing for the United States.”
When I asked if he thought he should have been on the roster, he was characteristically blunt. “Yeah, for sure,” he said. “The way I played last year, I thought I was deserving. I thought I could have fit in. I’ve played many roles throughout my career; I could play another. But obviously, it just wasn’t in the cards at that time. And so, you move on and you find ways to get better. You keep having goals, and that’s a goal of mine. I want to play next time.”
He is the exact right amount of beloved back home, where in two short seasons he’s become one of the most popular players in franchise history. “Yo! Say the name of my captain!” Tracy Morgan admonished me when I asked him about Brunson. “You don’t call him Jalen, you call him Cap.” That’s thanks, in part, to the way Brunson carries himself. He is reserved, with as dry a sense of humor as I’ve found in a professional athlete. When we met, he was wearing the Young New Yorker of Means uniform: a black Louis Vuitton crossbody, a “New York or Nowhere” hat, gray sweat shorts, and Nike Dunks. And what really cemented his New York idol status was his decision to sign that mondo contract extension this summer, rather than waiting until next year, when he could have signed a deal worth $113 million more. “One hundred thirteen on the table? That’s big. I love you, Jalen. I love you, Jalen!” Morgan said. “He did that for us! He didn’t have to do that. He did that for us. He wanted to see New York back on top again.”
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Brunson is careful to point out that his deal is, technically, only a relative discount. “Everyone sees like, ‘Oh, taking 113 less,’ ” he reminded me. “Well, to be blunt, I took the most I could do this year.” Still, his decision makes it far more likely that the Knicks will be able to keep adding and retaining talent around him—like Bridges, who is due an extension of his own soon. “Obviously, it helps the team out, and I want this team to stay together for as long as we can, and try and do something special here,” he said.
