What Giants teammates are seeing with Malik Nabers poised to be next great New York sports star

We are, and have always been, a star town. Former Jets owner Sonny Werblin recognized as much when he signed Broadway Joe Namath to a $427,000 contract out of Alabama. 

When someone with star power walks into a room, everyone knows it. 

New York has been blessed to have so many of them come its way, all the way back to Babe Ruth, and now we add Malik Nabers to the list. 

You dare not head to the refrigerator when Aaron Judge has a bat in his hands. 

Football is an 11-man sport and Malik Nabers is at the mercy of Daniel Jones throwing him the ball and throwing it accurately. But we have learned quickly that Malik Nabers with the ball in the air or in his hands is something to see, and America and America’s Team get to see it Thursday night at MetLife Stadium. 

There isn’t a great player in any sport who doesn’t ooze athletic arrogance on the field. Just watch Nabers play the game. You can tell that he knows. He knows who he is, what he can do, who he can be. He knows that when he is covered he is open. 

Jason Pinnock mentions Odell Beckham Jr. and Derek Jeter and Judge and Jalen Brunson at the top of his list of New York stars and says: “You could have a high game, you could have a low game, but the thing is about all the guys I just named, they’re consistently great, and they stay at that pinnacle.” 

His Giants teammates believe this much: Success won’t spoil Malik Nabers. 

“I think you have to be able to compartmentalize very well because as you know, the media here, it can get a little crazy,” Bronx-born tight end Chris Manhertz told The Post. “Having the ability to disassociate what happens and what’s being said regardless of your play, and focusing on what you need to do on a weekly basis, I think it helps with eliminating those type of distractions.” 

So far, so great. 

“It matters what you do with success,” Jalin Hyatt told The Post. “I just think with him, he’s clearheaded, and he wants to be the best. He wants to be the best not just in here, but he wants to be the best receiver in the NFL. Day in and day out he shows that in practice, and it translates to the game. I think even with the success that he will continue to get in his career, I think it’ll help him, it’ll give him more motivation, more confidence in himself, and more confidence in DJ as well.” 

Aaron Rodgers brought two decades of star power and one Super Bowl crown with him from Green Bay to the Jets. 

It took Malik Nabers three games to become the talk of the other side of town, where they are desperate for something, for someone, to embrace in the franchise’s 100th anniversary season. 

He has given the beleaguered Giants fan hope, hope for meaningful games in December again, hope for a season no one expected. 

Saquon Barkley brought his star power from Penn State, but the Giants failed to fix their offensive line, and even if you are touched by the hand of God, it is impossible for a running back to become a Gold Jacket Guy without a serviceable offensive line. 

In today’s quarterback-driven NFL, it is easier for a receiver who is touched by the hand of God to catch a rising stardom. 

Nabers has made Jones a better quarterback and he has made Brian Daboll a better coach. 

“I think he has a strong mind,” Dexter Lawrence told The Post. 

Nabers gives the Giants something they have sorely needed: a player who expects to win rather than a player who hopes to win. It is part of his dawg persona. 

“He expects to win, he expects to make plays,” Darius Slayton told The Post, “and he does.” 

But he is no diva who thinks he knows it all. 

“He’s a sponge when it comes to veterans speaking to him,” Pinnock said. 

Nabers was catching passes from Jayden Daniels when the Cowboys were humiliating the Giants 40-0 in last year’s MetLife Stadium home opener and 49-17 at Jerry’s World in November. 

All the stars New York has witnessed across the years — Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays and Duke Snider and Patrick Ewing and Mark Messier and Henrik Lundqvist and Jeter and Mariano Rivera and now Judge and Brunson to name a few — lived for the brightest lights and the biggest stages. 

Now here come the Cowboys and all their stars — CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons, Dak Prescott, a faded Ezekiel Elliott — and the star on their helmets. 

And here comes Malik Nabers, born for Star Wars, born for New York, born for prime time.