Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Pictures
Stats with crew: 26.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 6.7 apg, 48.5 FGpercentAccolades with crew: Two-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA 2nd Group, Clutch Participant of the 12 months
Once we first did this train, it was Allan Houston who owned this spot. Since then, Jalen Brunson has executed greater than sufficient to take this distinction from Houston to be thought-about the most effective free-agent signing in Knicks historical past.
Since attending to New York, Brunson has turned the Knicks into among the finest squads within the Jap Convention, main the crew together with his incredible scoring and regular playmaking as a flooring normal.
After making the playoffs simply as soon as within the 9 seasons previous to Brunson’s arrival, New York has not solely made it to the playoffs all three years behind Brunson’s incredible play, but it surely has additionally made it previous the primary spherical in every of these appearances, together with reaching the Jap Confernce Finals in 2024-25.
Questions stay on whether or not Brunson will be the most effective participant on a title-winning crew, however even then, for the Knicks to even be in that dialog now goes to indicate simply how nice Brunson has been, because the franchise had struggled to be taken critically for a very long time earlier than Brunson’s arrival.
In February of 2024, Brunson mentioned his choice to depart Dallas and signal with New York in free company. A part of it needed to do with cash, in fact, though Brunson claimed he would have been glad to increase with the Mavericks on a four-year, $55 million contract. Nonetheless, Brunson claims that finally, he realized he had outgrown a contract of that measurement together with his play, so he determined towards signing that extension when Dallas lastly provided it after the commerce deadline in 2021-22.
Brunson additionally claims he didn’t really feel pursued closely sufficient by the Mavericks as soon as he did hit free company that summer season, whereas noticing that New York was making numerous strikes to clear up the salary-cap house wanted to signal him, which he appreciated:
“And so that each one occurs. I’m making an attempt to consider my timeline so I don’t mess up,” Brunson mentioned. “So after dropping the Western Convention Finals, I bear in mind seeing one thing on Twitter after the sport, and it was like Mark [Cuban] saying, ‘We are able to pay him probably the most cash.’ And so he says that within the interview proper after the sport. After which so I’m considering, like, I’m okay. After that, it was like crickets, from my viewpoint, I can’t communicate to anybody else. I’m not. Simply from my viewpoint, it was crickets.” “I noticed, like, New York making strikes and noticed all that stuff,” Brunson defined. “I used to be near house — two hours away from the place I used to be, an hour away from the place I used to be born. Dad and mom over the East Coast, entire households on the East Coast. So I began considering, like, ‘Might this be an actual factor?’ And so, then, right here we’re.”
New York finally did get fined by the NBA for tampering with Brunson whereas he was nonetheless signed with the Mavericks.
Not that it issues, as no matter effective the crew needed to pay has confirmed nicely value it contemplating how good Brunson has been for the Knicks.
Honorable mentions: Allan Houston, Amare Stoudemire, John Starks
