{"id":820731,"date":"2026-07-24T11:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T11:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/820731\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T11:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T11:22:09","slug":"gilbert-arenas-says-bronny-james-is-a-superstar-but-not-jalen-brunson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/820731\/","title":{"rendered":"Gilbert Arenas Says Bronny James Is A Superstar, But Not Jalen Brunson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> guard Bronny James<\/a> hasn\u2019t even established himself as a rotational piece just yet, but former NBA star Gilbert Arenas<\/a> believes he is a superstar. Arenas was asked for his definition of a superstar on Gil\u2019s Arena<\/a> at Fanatics Fest and claimed it has little to do with play on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is somebody who you know him from high school, college,\u201d Arenas said. \u201cIt\u2019s more of your aura than your play. So like AJ [Dybantsa], you know them from childhood. So that\u2019s what superstars are. So you don\u2019t actually have to be good in the NBA to be considered a superstar. Like Bronny is considered a superstar.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fans in attendance disagreed with Bronny, who averaged 2.9 points, 0.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game in 2025-26, being called a superstar, but Arenas wasn\u2019t backing down.<\/p>\n

\u201cShedeur [Sanders] is a superstar,\u201d Arenas said. \u201c\u2026 It\u2019s jersey sales, it\u2019s recognition. That\u2019s what makes a superstar. Now, some superstars, their game matches it, too. But the superstar name is: can you sell product? That\u2019s what it really is. So, it has nothing to do with your skill level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arenas was asked whether he thinks he was a superstar at his peak, but admitted he wasn\u2019t. The 44-year-old says someone like Allen Iverson<\/a> was deserving of that tag, as he was a big name in high school, college, and the pros.<\/p>\n

With all this in mind, co-host Josiah Johnson asked Arenas if he thinks Jalen Brunson<\/a> is a superstar. He did not hesitate when responding to that question.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, but he could be,\u201d Arenas said. \u201c\u2026 Hey, you got the Jalen Brunson shoes?\u2026 Did you go get the new Jalen Brunson shoes? He don\u2019t have \u2019em, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Co-host Nick Young<\/a> pointed out that Brunson turned down a chance to have his own signature shoe line with Nike. He wanted to keep wearing Kobe Bryant\u2019s shoes, but the explanation didn\u2019t satisfy Arenas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s only seven signature shoe guys,\u201d Arenas said. \u201cThose are the ones that Nike says you are going to be superstars. Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] won the second MVP. What did Nike do? Get out of Converse. You\u2019re a Nike player because they thinking his name is going to go. [Nikola] Jokic, no matter how many MVPs you win, you\u2019re not going to be that guy as a superstar. But it\u2019s just, can you sell product?\u201d<\/p>\n

Arenas\u2019 arguments didn\u2019t convince the fans in attendance or his co-hosts. Young hilariously told him he\u2019s been on the sidelines too long and is talking crazy.<\/p>\n

Now, Arenas brought up those jersey sales there, and he might want to look up the actual numbers. Brunson ranked third behind only Stephen Curry<\/a> and Luka Doncic<\/a> in jersey sales for the 2025-26 regular season, according to the NBA<\/a>. Mind you, this was before he led the New York Knicks<\/a> to the NBA championship in 2026.<\/p>\n

Bronny wasn\u2019t in the top 15, and he doesn\u2019t have his signature shoe line either. To say he is a superstar, but Brunson isn\u2019t, is a bit absurd no matter how you look at it.<\/p>\n

Brunson definitely deserves that label now with the Knicks\u2019 triumph and his winning Finals MVP. He is being called the King of New York, and if that isn\u2019t recognition, then what is?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James hasn\u2019t even established himself as a rotational piece just yet, but former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-820731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}