With the New York Knicks emerging as NBA champions for the first time since 1973, fans and former Knicks players alike took pride in the team’s achievement. However, none may have been as proud to see Jalen Brunson hailed as the Finals MVP as his father, Rick Brunson.
Jalen Brunson’s meteoric rise to superstardom over the last few years has been noteworthy. While this is undoubtedly attributed to Brunson’s work ethic and consistent improvement, Rick Brunson can also be credited with it, as he took lessons from his own career to ensure his son didn’t make the same mistakes.
While speaking with SiriusXM, Brunson shed light on the emotional journey of watching his son become a superstar and how he tried to help along the way.
“You just take the experiences that you had, and the mistakes that you made, and try to instill them into your kids and make sure they don’t go down that same path,” he shared.
“My only goal was that, ‘Hey, I wanna help my son reach his dream and play in the NBA.’ And our only goal was to get a guaranteed contract and be successful. It wasn’t to be this, you know? I’d be lying to tell you I knew it would come out to this. No way!”
At the time he joined the league, Jalen Brunson was relatively overlooked. Even though he had won two NCAA championships with Villanova, Brunson wasn’t highly rated by scouts, leading to him being drafted in the second round by the Dallas Mavericks in 2018.
Despite being the 33rd overall pick, Brunson fulfilled his dream of playing for an NBA team. While this was promising enough, no one could have predicted his development into a star-caliber player in the years to come.
Joining the Knicks in the summer of 2022 may have been the best decision of Jalen Brunson’s career, as it fast-tracked his journey to becoming a superstar. But for Rick Brunson, who became an assistant coach on the Knicks shortly before his son’s arrival that summer, this move was far more significant in light of the team’s latest achievement.
“I say this to him all the time, ‘Me coaching you the last four years, I never had a bad day. It’s going to work, looking at you, so I don’t expect you to have a bad day,'” he revealed.
“I’ve been there not knowing if you’re gonna be there the next day. So I’ve always instilled that in him, and he took that… The credit goes to your children; they listen, they learn, and they want to be great.”
And great he has been. After leading the Knicks on a phenomenal 16-3 run through the postseason, Jalen Brunson cemented his place as one of the league’s best players. Given that he also delivered a title to New York after 53 years of waiting, there is even an argument to consider him one of the franchise’s greatest players.
From having imposter syndrome while playing alongside Luka Doncic to leading a team to an NBA championship, Jalen Brunson has certainly come a long way. Now, with a well-deserved break in the offseason, Brunson and the Knicks will recuperate before returning to defend their title in the 2026-27 season.
