Jalen Brunson ‘honored’ to be named Knicks captain, explains signing team-friendly extension

At this point, Jalen Brunson needs no introduction among Knicks fans. After all, the MVP candidate has already cemented himself as a fan favorite following two spectacular seasons in New York.

But on Thursday afternoon, Brunson was “re-introduced” to the media as the 36th captain in franchise history.

Brunson’s numbers as a Knick are extremely impressive, as he’s averaged 26.5 points, 6.5 assists, and 3.6 rebounds per game while shooting 40.7 percent from beyond the arc. But Brunson has brought so much more than just his stats, and the Knicks rewarded him for his leadership by naming him captain.

“I was honored,” Brunson said. “For me, it doesn’t really change anything that I go about doing every single day. I go in, I work hard, I do everything the same, but that fact that I can wear that title, it means a lot.

“To be named captain, that never really crossed my mind. The only thing I try to focus on is how can I help my team win, because I know winning helps everyone else individually. When you win as a team, it helps everyone individually. That’s just been my mindset through it all, and I’ll keep saying it until I’m blue in the face, I’m honored.”

Brunson also discussed signing his new four-year, $156 million extension, a deal in which he left over $100 million on the table to help the Knicks build out a championship roster around him (Brunson could have signed an extension worth up to $270 million over five years if he waited until next summer).

So why sign the extension now?

“I think anyone who knows me knows what I’m about,” Brunson said. “I think about every decision that I make, and I’m completely comfortable with what [I’ve] done. … I want to win. I want to win here.”

“A lot can happen in a year,” he added. “Everyone in this room has seen a lot happen in a year when players wait out. Two, I would love to be here, I want to be here for the rest of my career. Winning trumps everything that I do, individually.”

In just two seasons, Brunson, along with head coach Tom Thibodeau and team president Leon Rose, has established a winning culture with the Knicks, something that has been absent for quite some time.

Brunson has taken the Knicks to the playoffs in each of his two seasons. He’s finished Top 5 in MVP voting and earned Second Team All-NBA honors.

But don’t think for a second that the Villanova product is satisfied.

“It’s nice to hear that we’re contenders, but I think that we’ve got to go into training camp without having that word be spoken of,” Brunson said. “From day one, let’s just get better every single day. Let’s focus on the next day. Obviously, I said I want to get past the second round for two straight years, but you can’t just go into the season and jump back into the second round. You’ve got to go back and start all over again.

“We have some new pieces, we have some familiar faces. What can we do with it? What type of team do we want to be? So we’ve just got to lock in and buy in together.”