Victor Wembanyama<\/a> arriving in San Antonio from France as the No. 1 pick in the draft as a 7-foot-4 giant whose array of skills made it easy to forecast that he could become one of the greats of the game.<\/p>\nBrunson stands just 6-2 and doesn’t appear to be blessed with explosive speed. That’s how a two-time NCAA champion and college player of the year at Villanova ended up as just a second-round pick in 2018. He landed in Dallas at the same time as Luka Doncic, and seeing how easy the Slovenian sensation made the game look had Brunson wondering about his own abilities. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt made me kind of question myself to see how hard I actually had to work to be in the position I wanted to be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He was largely a backup in his four seasons in Dallas before the Knicks spent more than $100 million to pry him away. It’s probably the best decision they ever made \u2014 and with what Brunson has done in New York at that low cost for a now perennial All-Star, one of the best free agent moves any team ever has.<\/p>\n
The Knicks have just two NBA titles, and the wait for a third has lasted so many generations that Brunson would easily join New York sports icons such as Joe Namath, Derek Jeter or Reggie Jackson, still celebrated around the five boroughs long after their championships, if he can win just one now. <\/p>\n
Get it and the second-team All-NBA pick would be confirmed as a superstar. Of course, the opposite could happen. If Brunson struggles against the Spurs’ good defensive guards and the Knicks lose, there will be critics quick to say they need more because Brunson just isn’t quite a 1-A.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I don\u2019t really care what people say, so at the end of the day I\u2019m not going to base my judgment or evaluation of him as a player off people that never played the game and just never been in that situation,\u201d teammate and close friend Josh Hart said. \u201cSo I know he doesn\u2019t really care about it, I don\u2019t really care about it. At the end of the day those quote-unquote people are irrelevant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around New York, it’s clear the respect Brunson commands. Mets slugger Juan Soto hit a home run and performed the hand gesture Brunson uses to celebrate a 3-pointer. Jets coach Aaron Glenn said the impact the captain has on the club is evident.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, you can tell that the leadership, the fight, everybody follows that, and it\u2019s easy to follow that,\u201d Glenn said. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy, and I continue to say this, that leadership really comes down to one word and that\u2019s \u2018influence.\u2019 You really see the influence that he has, and it\u2019s not always verbal. It\u2019s a lot of just what he does and how he operates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brunson doesn’t seem to seek the spotlight and will never ooze coolness like Frazier, the stylish \u201cClyde\u201d known for his colorful suits. But a title puts him in the same club, and membership has long-lasting benefits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t walk the street, it\u2019s like I\u2019m in a parade. Anywhere I go people are like, \u2018Oh, there he is, there\u2019s Clyde! There\u2019s Clyde!\u2019\u201d Frazier said. “So if these guys win another title \u2014 man, I can\u2019t spend money now in New York. I\u2019ll never have to spend money again in this city.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s what I want to show the players. Hey man, I\u2019ve been doing this for 50 years. Fifty years just for winning two titles! So you guys can have it if you just win one title.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP Pro Football Writer Dennis Waszak Jr. in Florham Park, New Jersey contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/a><\/p>\nCopyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jalen Brunson might be playing for something more than a championship in these NBA Finals. A victory would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[28326,4,450,4708,451,36783,296527,61628,7842,3014,3,98625,56199,99,452,453,32090,263837],"class_list":["post-680689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-aaron-glenn","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-derek-jeter","tag-headlines","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-joe-namath","tag-josh-hart","tag-juan-soto","tag-luka-doncic","tag-news","tag-patrick-ewing","tag-reggie-jackson","tag-sports","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-victor-wembanyama","tag-walt-frazier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}