Jalen Brunson is set to lead the Knicks as they compete on the biggest stage in the league, the NBA Finals, against the Spurs, for a shot at winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy for the first time in 53 years (New York last won in 1973).
As San Antonio gets ready to host Game 1, Jalen Brunson spoke to the media tonight and addressed whether he ever felt imposter syndrome in his career, the feeling that he doesn’t belong at the level at which he’s playing. And the Knicks’ point guard admitted that the only time he ever felt such an emotion was in his rookie year on the Mavericks.
“The only time is probably my rookie year… playing pickup with the team in Dallas and then obviously watching Luka doing his thing so effortlessly,” said Brunson in his conversation with the press.
“It’s something I talked about a while ago as well. That was probably the only time, and it made me kind of question myself to see how hard I actually had to work to be in the position that I wanted to be.”
Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson were both drafted into the NBA in 2018 by the Mavericks. While Doncic was a top-five pick, Brunson was the 33rd overall pick from the second round.
Subsequently, in his rookie year, Doncic was mostly starting over Brunson, who came off the bench for most of the season. He averaged 9.3 points, 3.2 assists, and 2.3 rebounds while playing less than 22 minutes per game (21.8 to be precise). He shot 46.7% from the floor and 34.8% from behind the three-point line.
Simultaneously, Luka Doncic was averaging 21.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 6.0 assists while playing over 31 minutes per game and shooting 42.7% from the field and 32.7% from beyond the arc. He also won the Rookie of the Year award. Probably the point at which Brunson questioned his own position the most.
Both Brunson and Doncic share an amicable relationship, so it’s not like the feeling was stemming from a hostile place. But this goes to show that even the biggest celebrities and athletes find themselves in positions where they feel inferior to others and feel like they don’t belong.
But what makes them the superstars they become is the ability to overcome that adversity and let it fuel their motivation to excel beyond expectations. And that is what Brunson did.
We can endlessly argue the hypothetical scenarios, like what if Brunson and Doncic stayed together. But assuming that things would not have eventually changed on the Mavericks to accommodate the point guard more, leaving Dallas to join New York to lead his own team was arguably the best decision in Jalen Brunson’s career, as he is now on the verge of his first visit to the NBA Finals and proving his critics wrong.
