Commentary | A New York monument, Brunson rises above any skyscraper

SAN ANTONIO -- The greatest tales, the ones passed down like heirlooms, often end with an underdog placing a foot on the chest of a giant.

These stories survive because of the power packed within them. The lore of overachievers, of adversity conquerors, of those who prevail when defeat is expected, deliver the most inspiration.

The legend of New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, now an NBA champion, follows this story arc. It sounds exaggerated, much like the greatest stories told. But the tale of Brunson’s journey to glory is as real as it is improbable. It sounds like a tale playing loose with veracity for the sake of emphasis. Yet it is also a most traditional sports story, the kind that makes these games addictive.

On Saturday night, Brunson, a second-round draft pick, hoisted his sport’s most prized possession for a franchise known for its illusions of grandeur. The player many believed to be too small to lead a city has taken its millions of antsy congregants to the Promised Land. Now the supposed 6-foot-2 guard is a monument taller than any skyscraper, while overcoming basketball’s greatest giant to get the job done.

Brunson was born in South Jersey, went to high school in the Chicago suburbs and played college ball in Philadelphia. But now he’s a New York legend.

After rescuing the Knicks with clutch performance after clutch performance, bucket after bucket, he scored 45 points in Game 5, a closeout game, to defeat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 on the road. Michael Jordan, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bob Pettit and now Brunson are the only players to score 45 points in a closeout NBA Finals victory.

After 53 years, the Knicks are NBA champions, and No. 11 may be the greatest Knick ever.

“And I hope he doesn’t kill me,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said, referring to Patrick Ewing, the Knicks’ No. 1 draft pick in 1985. “He’s bigger than me, but we’re both old and slow. But Jalen Brunson is him when it comes to New York basketball.”

When the final buzzer sounded inside Frost Bank Center, a makeshift stage was erected within minutes. The Knicks gathered as an organization to receive the hardware and praise that come with being the last team standing.

Cheers bounced off every corner of the arena from the thousands of fans who traveled, hoping to witness New York back on top with their own eyes, to one day be able to pass down a story similar to the one passed down to them.

As the presentation unfolded, Brunson stood front and center, his left arm resting on the shoulder of team owner James Dolan.

Dolan has controlled the Knicks for 27 years. He now gets to be known as a champion, and it’s all because of that left arm on his shoulder, the one many NBA scouts doubted despite its leading to championships in high school and college. Since arriving in New York in 2022, Brunson has led the Knicks to at least the Eastern Conference semifinals every season. Before his arrival, New York made it past the first round just once in 21 years.

New York steadily improved with Brunson as their leader. Last year, the franchise made it to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years. That experience propelled it to one of the most dominant playoff runs ever this season.

“Hey New York! I’m sorry it took so long, but here we are and hopefully it won’t take that long again,” Dolan said before grabbing the trophy.

The attention eventually turned to Brunson, who was handed both the Larry O’Brien trophy and the trophy for being the finals’ MVP. He raised both toward the roof, where the jersey of Becky Hammon, who played for San Antonio’s WNBA team and was an assistant coach for the Spurs, hangs as one of the city’s basketball greats.

Hammon is important in Brunson’s story because of her critique in 2023, when she was an ESPN analyst during the NBA playoffs. Hers was the loudest of many who had the same feelings about the undersized guard.

“At the end of the day, they don’t have a dude,” Hammon said of the Knicks. “You have to have a 1A dude. They’re missing that at the end of the day.”

“They do have that dude,” her colleague Kendrick Perkins pointed out, “Jalen Brunson.”

“He’s too small,” Hammon said back.

If Brunson isn’t a 1A dude, how do you explain 45 points in a closeout game in the finals? How do you explain Brunson making the Spurs’ 7-4 center, Victor Wembanyama, look like an earthling? Brunson’s foot on the laid-out body of Wembanyama will be how his story is told decades from now.

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Brunson, who now has 10 40-point games in his postseason career, averaged 32.6 points per game in the finals against a defense as aggressive, fast and diverse as any this decade. He has won a championship at every level -- twice in college at Villanova.

Earlier this month, Hammon was asked about her 2023 comments and doubled down, but added that she hoped to be proved wrong.

“I didn’t respond to them then and I damn sure not going to respond to them now,” Brunson said Saturday.

Brunson walked to the podium with both trophies, one in each arm. At his core, he has the humbleness of an Everyman. When reporters shower him with questions about his greatness, he reverts to praising his teammates and coaches. He always seems to be in the moment, never riding the high of success or dwelling in the sorrows of defeat.

This is the guy who, when the Knicks won the NBA Cup this season, devised a plan to make sure that the peripheral people in the Knicks’ organization -- medical staff, public relations, locker room attendants -- received a portion of the money that the players got for winning the tournament.

Brunson, the player, is a killer. His game has the bravado of a street-ball legend in New York City. His bang-bang crossover into a smooth, step-back jumper has deflated fan bases across the country. His herky-jerky, stop-and-go style is as particular to him as the Shammgod once was to New York City playgrounds.

The combination of the person and player is the perfect representation of New York, a city known for its blue-collar roots but brash personalities.

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Brunson, though, could not be at the top of the hill without the likes of Josh Hart, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges. The Knicks were a well-oiled machine these playoffs, packed with pick-your-poison offensive weapons and slap-the-floor defensive dawgs. Yet this Knicks starting lineup would not have been possible without Brunson’s selflessness.

In the summer of 2024, Brunson left $113 million on the table when he signed his extension. Part of the reasoning was to allow the Knicks’ front office to be able to build a true contender, to add the perfect pieces around its perfect star. New York does not get Bridges and Towns without Brunson taking less money. It does not make a move for Anunoby if the powers that be did not view Brunson as one of the game’s elite.

The qualities and talent that made the Knicks champions came to fruition because of a culture Brunson helped create.

“He understands what winning is about,” Brown said. “He took a pay cut that I wouldn’t take. Every time they would throw that number in front of me, I would say no, and I feel like I’m a great guy. He set the bar. That set the standard.”

With all due respect to Knicks greats like Ewing, Walt Frazier and Willis Reed, Brunson is now the greatest Knick. Before Saturday night, Brunson had a seat next to those guys, but the chairs were rearranged once he lifted the franchise’s first championship trophy in 53 years, putting him at the head of the table.

The 1973 Knicks had seven Hall of Famers. Towns is the only Brunson teammate who seems to be on that path. Furthermore, there were only 17 teams in the NBA when Frazier and Reed led New York to its last title. Ewing, for all the greatness and longevity he brought to New York, never won it all -- even in an era made for big men.

Ewing, Frazier and Reed were not asked to thrive in a social media age, with constant reminders about how long it had been since New York was relevant for more than just its name. They did not play in a positionless NBA, where big men play like guards and lineups with the shortest player being 6-6 are common. They did not do the impossible and make Dolan a champion. Brunson did these things.

In 2026, Brunson is the real unicorn -- not Wembanyama, not Antetokounmpo, not Kevin Durant. Brunson’s archetype is heading toward extinction more with each passing day. Guards who are barely 6 feet, especially ones drafted in the second round, are not taking teams to the NBA Finals, let alone leaving as winners.

Even if Brunson never dribbles another basketball while wearing the blue and orange, he will be immortalized inside the world’s most famous arena. No. 11 will one day hang in the rafters.

The game’s current, greatest small man is not just larger than life in New York. He has placed New York back on top of the basketball world, where it belongs.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Copyright 2026 The New York Times Company

This story was originally published June 14, 2026 at 4:35 PM.