He placed third on Bleacher Report’s ranking of the best active bets to win a title during their ongoing primes, with the Knick out-placing old New York foe Jimmy Butler and Brunson’s former teammate in Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/a>. Now that some of the Knicks’ biggest obstacles have fallen, his consistent playoff participants have a wide-open shot<\/a> at building on last year’s Eastern Conference Finals breakthrough.<\/p>\n “The Cleveland Cavaliers are a force, but Brunson’s Knicks took them down in the first round of the 2023 playoffs,” Grant Hughes wrote<\/a>. “If the Philadelphia 76ers stay healthy enough to pose a threat, New York can derive confidence from the time it eliminated Philly in the first round of 2024.<\/p>\n “If new head coach Mike Brown<\/a> does a better job of limiting Brunson’s minutes<\/a> during the regular season, the two-time All-NBA guard could be fresher for the playoffs. Considering a heavily fatigued Brunson has averaged 29.9 points and 6.8 assists over the last three years and 42 postseason games with the Knicks, an uptick in production would be a remarkable achievement.”<\/p>\n Feb 28, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) reacts with guard Jalen Brunson (11) during the third quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images \/ Petre Thomas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n He may lack the historical standing of some of his list-mates, having gotten out to a fairly slow start to his NBA journey before blossoming into one of the league’s elite scoring point guards, but his top-10 status and superior team-standing have already placed him ahead of old friend Don\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n Brunson still finds himself below a few other guards, with Donovan Mitchell barely out-placing the Knicks star here. His prime’s spanned twice as long as Brunson’s has to this point. His Cavaliers sustain as New York’s only proven regular season threat to the No. 1 seed, having done so just last season with 64 wins.<\/p>\n He doesn’t lead the field, though; that honor belongs to Anthony Edwards, who’s more or less the obvious candidate to the question posed by Hughes. He’s several years younger than everyone else mentioned, already pushing an MVP case after just turning 24-years-old, and his Minnesota Timberwolves are well-positioned to continue challenging the tougher Western Conference. Brunson can’t quite match that upside, but he’s put his Knicks visibly within a title’s reach.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n