Why the Knicks are counting on the 'king of New York' to level up again

IN EARLY AUGUST, after Jalen Brunson was named the New York Knicks‘ first captain in five years, the franchise unveiled a video compilation congratulating its star floor general.

The first message in the video, which was filled with praise from the city’s sports captains past and present, was from New York Yankees legend and five-time World Series champion Derek Jeter.

“Man, I have enjoyed watching you develop and get better year after year,” Jeter said in his message. “And I look forward to that continuing as you lead the Knicks back to where they belong.”

Jeter’s words undoubtedly carried weight with Brunson, who had studied the Hall of Famer and a handful of other iconic athletes’ leadership methods in an effort to help build a consistent winner inside Madison Square Garden, which will host the Indiana Pacers Friday night in the Knicks’ home opener (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

The 28-year-old Brunson raised eyebrows across the league in July, when he signed a team-friendly four-year, $156.5 million extension when he could have waited until next summer to secure a far more lucrative five-year deal. The choice — which gave the Knicks’ front office coveted salary cap flexibility under the dreaded second apron — was in line with athletes such as Jeter, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, superstars who all took less money to bolster the rosters around them.

Aside from the $40 million per year he’ll earn through the 2027-28 season, New York has invested heavily in Brunson’s future.

In the span of two months, the Knicks:

• Traded five first-round picks for Brooklyn’s Mikal Bridges, Brunson’s teammate at Villanova;

• Re-signed defensive stopper OG Anunoby on a five-year, $212 million contract;

• And traded former All-NBA forward Julius Randle and guard Donte DiVincenzo (also Brunson’s teammate at Villanova) in another blockbuster deal to acquire four-time All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns.

Now, as the Yankees prepare for their first World Series appearance in 15 years, and in the wake of the New York Liberty capturing their first WNBA title on Sunday, the Knicks and their captain could be next in line. And, as Brunson has been all offseason, New York will need its captain to be in the middle of everything, if only to prove that the Knicks were right to expedite their build around him in the first place.

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EVERYWHERE YOU LOOKED, it seemed Brunson was there.

During the playoffs, he graced a massive Nike billboard on 34th Street and 7th Avenue, one block from Madison Square Garden. The two-time NCAA champion starred in a national AT&T commercial that aired throughout March Madness. And Brunson — alongside his father, Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson — was featured on the sides of dozens of city buses as part of a Brooks Brothers campaign this summer.

“He’s the king of New York,” Knicks guard Josh Hart, who also teamed with Brunson at Villanova, said during training camp. “It’s dope to see where he’s made it to. But it doesn’t get to his head.”

Maybe no one has done more to tap into Brunson’s rapid stardom than the Knicks themselves.

The reason New York finally pushed in its chips: In the two seasons since Brunson signed with New York, he has starred in a way that makes the Knicks and their title-starved fan base dream. He’s either a full-on superstar at this point, or he’s on the brink of becoming one. He finished fifth in MVP voting in 2023-24, and in the playoffs he scored at least 40 points in four straight games. The last player to do that was Michael Jordan in 1993.

No NBA player possessed the ball for longer than Brunson’s 662 minutes last season. But despite standing at an undersized 6-foot-2 and having a good jumper, the guard led the Eastern Conference in drive attempts last season at nearly 20 per game, losing defenders in his array of shoulder fakes and hesitation moves. And even with Brunson’s reliance on intricate footwork and his foul-drawing techniques, he traveled just four times last season.

All of which allows Brunson to make increased use of his high-arcing floater, a weapon that block-hungry bigs generally have no chance at swatting away. Brunson made 166 floaters in 2023-24, the most in a season since at least 2013-14, when Second Spectrum first began its player tracking. And Brunson had 86 instances last season where he was fouled and scored anyway against just 64 instances where he had his shot blocked — an incredible ratio generally reserved for taller, hulking stars such as Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James.

In return, the franchise added an All-Star big man who not only complements Brunson’s skill set, he helps expand it.

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ON THE SURFACE, New York’s Brunson-led offense was elite last season.

The Knicks ranked seventh in efficiency and saved their best performances for last, notching the league’s third-rated attack in the month of April. Brunson himself logged a career-high 28.7 points and 6.7 assists on the season, even though he had to work harder than just about anyone in the NBA to buy himself space from one play to the next.

Without the injured Randle available as a second option, Brunson dribbled the ball more and for longer per touch than any player in the league and served as the ball handler for an NBA-high 3,224 on-ball screens last season.

Almost none of those possessions were pick-and-pops, where the play ends with a screener getting a jump shot. (When New York did get pick-and-pops, they generally didn’t work well. Brunson and Randle shared 32 such plays, averaging just 0.56 points per possession — dead last in the NBA among duos who had at least 30 such possessions, per Second Spectrum.) Overall, the Knicks ranked 29th in points scored by screeners in pick-and-pop scenarios in 2023-24.

That’s where Towns should make a world of difference for Brunson and the Knicks’ offense.

Towns ranked second in the league last season in points from pick-and-pop situations, and the 28-year-old big man has connected on at least 100 triples in a season seven times. In fact, there are already indications that Towns has helped limit the opponent’s ability to crowd Brunson.

Brunson, who sank his first six shot attempts during the Knicks’ humbling opening-night defeat in Boston, saw an average of just 1.16 contesting defenders in the paint during the preseason — down from the average of 1.43 contesting defenders he saw last season when going for layups and floaters. The Second Spectrum data is a welcome sign for New York, given that the All-Star duo hasn’t had a true opportunity to jell yet, with the trade having happened just weeks ago.

It doesn’t mean the Knicks will be world beaters, of course. Even with the impressive defensive pairing of Anunoby and Bridges, the Celtics’ offense managed to repeatedly target Towns’ drop tendencies on defense Tuesday. In doing so, they tied an NBA record with 29 3-pointers.

The showing highlighted a key question that New York needs to tackle this season: Can the Knicks find a way to thrive on that end with Towns at center after he slid over to power forward in Minnesota to make space for perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate Rudy Gobert?

Still, even with that glaring question, it’s relatively easy to see how and why the Knicks’ front office wanted to wed Towns’ offensive skill set with Brunson’s.

“It’s a different dynamic, for sure,” Brunson said of the Knicks’ five-out spacing. “It gives us another weapon, and the [pick-and-roll] reads are definitely different.”

“The court is going to be wide-open,” Hart said. “The rim is going to be there.”

And no one’s better positioned to take advantage of the team’s new-look offense than Brunson, the captain himself.

ESPN Research’s Matt Williams contributed to this story.