Knicks Hand Jalen Brunson Illustrious Honor Ahead of 2024-25 Season

From the moment he arrived in New York two summers ago, Jalen Brunson has been celebrated as one of the greatest Knicks players to grace the Garden parquet and resurrect the long-beleaguered franchise. Now, the team is furthering that by granting him a new title held only by the most respected individuals in their storied history. 

Two months earlier, the Knicks point guard earned the admiration of the fans and city alike after he made an unforeseen decision to take a cheaper contract extension prior to the 2024-25 season.

Brunson chose to help the team by accepting a cap-friendlier deal of four years, $156.5 million, leaving an extra $113 million on the table to help the organization.

On Tuesday, the Knicks returned the favor to the player who recently lit a fire in their cauldron. The team announced that they would be naming Brunson the 36th captain in franchise history, an ode they haven’t handed down to any New York player since Lance Thomas in the 2018-19 season. 

“The New York Knicks have a deep and storied history and today we are immensely proud to add to that lineage by naming Jalen Brunson as our captain,” the Knicks said in their press release penned by Leon Rose Tuesday morning. 

"Jalen is a natural-born leader, and I am confident that he will continue to represent our organization, fans, city, and his teammates with the same heart, grit, and class that he has displayed each and every day since he came to New York."

By receiving the honor from the team, Brunson became the 18th guard and the fourth second-round draft selection in Knicks history to receive the recognition.

Along with the other accolades he earned last season, including All-NBA Second Team, it’s a rightful addition for a guy who has finally provided them with a top-tier player at the point guard position and dragged them out of the doldrums they’ve inhabited for the past decade and the last 50 years. 

Since coming over from the Dallas Mavericks in 2022, where he was a sidekick to Luka Doncic but helped lead them to a Western Conference Finals appearance, Brunson has electrified the Knicks' offense with super flashy performances that set records in several offensive categories.

In 145 games, he has averaged 26.5 points, which is good for second-highest in Knicks history behind Bob McAdoo, on 48.5 percent shooting to go along with 3.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists, and nearly 40 percent from the three-point line. 

Last season, Brunson averaged the fourth-highest scoring average in the NBA with 28.7 points per game on 47.9 percent shooting and paired it with 40.1 percent from deep, 6.7 assists, and 3.6 rebounds in 77 starts.

The cherry on top was his 61-point thriller in San Antonio on March 29, when he nailed 30 total baskets for 53.2 percent efficiency and put himself second behind Carmelo Anthony for the highest single-game scoring total in Knicks history. 

In the postseason, Brunson’s talents powered the Knicks to their second consecutive Eastern Conference Semifinals appearance. He posted 32.4 points and 7.5 assists in 13 games, including a 47-point showcase against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 4, marking the best playoff game by a Knicks player since Bernard King.

He also finished with 40+ points in five of New York’s contests before bowing out in Game 7 against Indiana, giving him the most points (210) in that same span since Michael Jordan in 1993. 

Beyond his statistics, Brunson has truly represented the Knicks with a mix of class and hard-nosed competitiveness that has enlivened the hearts of the fanbase and attracted other talented players to flock to the Big Apple.

In the last two years, he has once again made it cool to consider joining the Knicks, a proposition that numerous All-Star players such as Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving turned their cheeks from as the team spiraled out of control from season to season. 

After re-establishing a winning culture under head coach Tom Thibodeau and teammate Julius Randle, the Knicks have recruited several of Brunson’s college teammates at Villanova to join the rotation and bring impactful minutes on a nightly basis.

The most recent of that group was Mikal Bridges, who came over this offseason in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets to fortify the Knicks’ lineup with another wing shooter and a core of players who know how to win with each other at the highest level. 

Over the offseason, the Knicks were the subject of many trade rumors surrounding a handful of the league’s biggest names, including Karl-Anthony Towns, Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, and Lebron James.

None of those flirtations ever came to fruition this summer, but the team’s recent success has made the game’s leaders play with the idea of coming to the Mecca. It started with OG Anunoby, who re-signed to a max extension of his own and should make for an interesting time next year when the Knicks have all the firepower to pursue the final piece to their contention puzzle. 

As they draw closer to working on that goal in the 2024-25 season, the Knicks feel comfortable in the leader, mentor, and role model that they’ve found in Brunson since he rose to the occasion and elected to be the next face of the Knickerbocker brand.

He will certainly guide the young pieces on the roster to play at their highest capacity and will be the one to reorient the locker room during challenges that befall the team throughout the course of an 82-game season. 

Most of all, they have themselves a guy who will continue leaving his footprints all over the city with his charity work and philanthropic activities, all of which capture the hearts of the Knicks fans, young and old. Brunson's off-the-court work paints the picture of what it means to be a professional athlete who not only leads men in the locker room but inspires the next generation to chase the dreams he has pursued to get to this point. 

Jalen Brunson is a well-deserved person to join the ranks of New York Knicks prestige as Rose pointed out in his statement and the sky's the limit as he assumes this role and leads the Knicks closer to what has forever been the unthinkable. 

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