Jalen Brunson Earns Massive Honor From New York Knicks

For the longest time, the New York Knicks felt like they couldn’t give their money away to get any star players to join the team. After the 2012-13 season, New York missed the postseason for seven straight seasons. The team’s luck began to change when it hired head coach Tom Thibodeau in 2020.

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In the 2022 offseason, then-Dallas Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson signed a four-year, $104 million deal to come to New York. Brunson was a good player in the league, but nobody could have expected his rise to superstardom with the Knicks.

Now, two seasons into his New York career, Brunson has become one of the better players to put on a Knicks jersey in recent memory. He has devoted himself to bettering the team every day and helped lead the Knicks to a 50-32 record and the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference this past season.

New York ended up falling to the Indiana Pacers, not because they were a worse team but rather due to injury. The Knicks ran out of quality bodies to play, with Brunson getting hurt in Game 7.

Now heading into the new 2024-25 NBA season, the Knicks have given their All-NBA star a massive honor. The team announced that Brunson would be named the 36th team captain in the history of the franchise.

Knicks president Leon Rose released a statement with the announcement, praising Brunson for all he has done.

“The New York Knicks have a deep and storied history and today we are immensely proud to add to that lineage by naming Jalen Brunson as our captain,” said Knicks president Leon Rose. “Jalen is a natural born leader, and I am confident he will continue to represent our organization, fans, city and his teammates with the same heart, grit and class that he has displayed each and every day since he came to New York.”

Last season, Brunson averaged 28.7 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game. His 3-point shot percentage stayed above 40 percent, as he hit his shots at a 40.1 percent clip.

Brunson is the engine that makes the Knicks go and he has done whatever he can to help the organization win. This includes taking a massive discount on an extension this offseason, rather than waiting until next summer.

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The Villanova product agreed to a four-year, $156.5 million contract extension with New York this summer. Simply waiting until next offseason, Brunson would have been eligible to land a projected projected $269.1 million over five years, or an additional $113 million in total.

In a rare move for a star player, Brunson showed loyalty to an organization. He is determined to help the Knicks win a title and it’s part of the reason why the team decided to name him its newest captain.

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