Knicks’ Jalen Brunson, a top-5 MVP candidate last year, might be even better this year

TORONTO — Jalen Brunson’s personal race through his profession doesn’t have a finish line. He knows what he’s chasing, but whether he’ll get there, only he can decide. It’s the proverbial carrot on a stick.

Earlier this season as the New York Knicks were preparing to enter the new campaign, Brunson talked about how consistency drives him. Being consistent for his team. Being consistent for himself. Being consistent in his approach. Like perfection, consistency doesn’t feel obtainable. What does it even look like? When does one decide they’ve achieved it?

“That’s a loaded question,” Brunson said, with a curious look, after Monday’s 113-108 win over the Toronto Raptors when asked about his personal rat race. “I would say … as long as I’m helping my team win, I’ll focus on that and go from there. I’ll re-evaluate (the chase) at a later time.”

If Brunson doesn’t think he’s close to what he’s searching for, he’s his own toughest critic. The numbers speak for themselves. A top-five MVP candidate a season ago, the Knicks’ captain is putting up better offensive numbers across the board. Only his scoring output is down; it has dropped from a ridiculous 28.7 points per game last season to a still-ridiculous 25.4 points per game this season, largely due to playing alongside more players capable of scoring at a high level. Brunson’s baseline efficiency stats are up. His advanced shooting stats are up. His turnovers are down. His 7.8 assists per game are a career high.

Brunson is still the prolific, quirky scorer who, despite his size, doesn’t often leave a game with fewer than 20 points. He has gone from an elite 3-point shooter to a more elite 3-point scorer. He still owns a few houses in the midrange.

the burner 🔥🔥 @jalenbrunson1 pic.twitter.com/kPaEYq1Tna

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) December 10, 2024

The part of his game that has popped early in this new season, though, is as a distributor. Brunson is making every read. He finds open players. He passes players open. Monday night against Toronto, Brunson recorded double-digit assists for the seventh time this season. He did that only nine times in 77 games last season. Brunson’s floor game has been a driving force behind the NBA’s most efficient offense.

The Knicks built a team this offseason that was conducive to all of Brunson’s strengths. His development in New York and under Tom Thibodeau provided the organization the confidence to shake things up, part with assets and go all in on the 28-year-old guard. Brunson has taken advantage of it. He has never been better. Despite the Knicks’ lingering flaws, they haven’t been better in quite some time.

“They surrounded him with guys who can shoot, who can space the court,” Josh Hart said. “Obviously, (Karl-Anthony Towns) can pick-and-pop. They surrounded him with other guys who command attention.

“He’s able to expose that in terms of scoring the ball when other teams don’t bring as much help, but when they put two players on him, he’s unselfish.”

A late bloomer to NBA stardom, Brunson has spent the past few seasons seeing every defensive coverage in the book. He has always found ways to break it down, but this season feels like the culmination of all the work he has put in. Of course, having these particular shooters and scorers alongside him helps, but Brunson has been preparing for such moments long before he played on a team with this much offensive firepower. He said from high school until he started his professional career as a primary backup guard, he worked on going against certain defensive coverages — blitzes, hedges, drop defense, etc. — “in case I ever needed it.”

So, when the time came for opposing teams to throw everything at him in an attempt to slow him down, Brunson felt prepared.

“It’s been happening a lot more recently,” Brunson said. “I’ve always worked on stuff like that. I just like to trust my reads and my instincts.”

Brunson is getting deep into the paint and generating open, kick-out 3s for his teammates. The added space the Knicks roster provides is creating cutting lanes for Hart, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges to moonwalk to the basket, and Brunson is finding them in stride.

Good players make other good players better, and that’s what we’re seeing with Brunson’s early-season impact. That’s not to say he didn’t play with good players in the past. He very much did. This is different, though. The roster around Brunson accentuates his strengths. If this offense were stalling, it would likely be because he wasn’t taking what the game, and the skills of those around him, told him to.

Instead, he’s the engine behind the game’s best offense, which is on pace to be one of the best ever. All because Brunson is letting the game come to him.

“He’s 10, 11 (assists) every night now,” Thibodeau said. “He’s creating a lot of good offense for us. Everyone shares in that responsibility. Read the game and don’t hold on to the ball too long. If you’re open, I want you to shoot. If you’re not open, I don’t want you to overdribble, either. Just read what they’re doing. When you have players who play for each other and play unselfishly, you’re going to get high-percentage shots from that.”

(Photo of Jalen Brunson driving past Ochai Agbaji: John E. Sokolowski / Imagn Images)