By Matthew Couden0ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSee more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.Jalen Brunson led the New York Knicks to the NBA Finals after an impressive 11-game winning streak that featured back-to-back sweeps against the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers.
The strong performances for his team throughout the postseason gave analysts, fans, and critics a deeper appreciation of how good Brunson is as a player. Among his heroic feats for the Knicks was going off in the fourth quarter of a Game 1 comeback against the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals.
He's shown confidence throughout his career, which has steadily grown as he approaches his first-ever championship series. However, Brunson admitted it wasn't always that way, recalling his time with the Dallas Mavericks.
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During those days, he played alongside NBA superstar Luka Doncic, a player who, like the San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama, quickly displayed top-tier basketball abilities early in his career.
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..."The only time is probably my rookie year ... playing pickup with the team in Dallas and then obviously watching Luka doing his thing so effortlessly," he said during Tuesday's press conference. "That was probably the only time, and it made me kind of question myself to see how hard I actually had to work to be in the position that I wanted to be in."
Brunson is one of those NBA Draft stories about a team discovering a gem of a player with their second-round pick. The Mavs selected him at No. 33 overall, and he spent four seasons there with his numbers steadily improving each of those seasons.
After he joined the Knicks as a free agent in July 2022, he continued to improve, earning his first NBA All-Star selection in 2024 and then two more in consecutive seasons. He led his team to win the NBA Cup Championship in Las Vegas earlier this season, won the NBA Cup MVP, and will now compete against the Spurs for an NBA Championship.
So far, Brunson has averaged 26.9 points, 6.6 assists, and 2.8 rebounds per game in the 2026 NBA Playoffs. He's also shooting at a 48.6 percent field goal rate this postseason.
Should the Knicks win the NBA Finals, it will likely be due to Brunson's starring role, which could mean an NBA Finals MVP Award along with his championship ring.
It will also arrive before Luka Doncic, who played in the NBA Finals for his first time a few seasons ago. However, he was unsuccessful playing alongside guard Kyrie Irving, rather than Brunson, as the Mavs fell to the Boston Celtics.
Brunson begins his journey with the Knicks as they battle the Spurs in Game 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
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