Justin Bieber, Fans Make Knicks Star Comfortable

While many athletes and stars get scared under the bright lights of the Big Apple, New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson embraces it.

Brunson, 27, is two years into a four-year contract with the Knicks that he signed in the summer of 2022, shocking the league as the team looked to make him the next franchise guard despite only playing as an understudy to Luka Doncic with the Dallas Mavericks for the first four years of his career.

However, his legend has only grown since joining the Knicks, and it could be thanks to what has made him comfortable with his pre-game playlists.

“My music library in my phone, it’s pretty broad. But right before I run onto the court, right after a team meeting, I have to listen to at least one [Justin] Bieber song,” Brunson told PEOPLE’s Alex Ross.

Maybe the two JB’s are onto something, because Brunson just enjoyed the best season of his career, averaging 28.7 points and 6.7 assists per game while making his first NBA All-Star team. He also led the Knicks back to the playoffs and won a six-game series against the Philadelphia 76ers in six games, marking the first time New York had advanced to the second round of the postseason in consecutive years since 1999-2000.

But Brunson has also grown fond of the fanbase that has supported him since the moment he put on a Knicks jersey.

“You could talk about how New York has everything. New York has the best food, shopping, and all that stuff. It has everything you could think of. You could find anything at any given time of the day. But besides all that, I just love how the people have embraced us,” Brunson said in his interview.

Brunson has the backing from the biggest basketball city in the world, and that is often overlooked when it comes to a player’s success. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why his legend has soared over the past two years, and why he’s on a path towards becoming one of the better players in the franchise’s storied history.

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