Knicks introduce Jalen Brunson to season ticketholders
The Mavericks' Jalen Brunson leaps to the basket for a shot as teammate Dorian Finney-Smith looks on and Suns forward Jae Crowder, rear, defends in the second half of Game 4 of an NBA second-round playoff series on May 8 in Dallas. Credit: AP/Tony Gutierrez
With rumors flying that the Knicks could bring Donovan Mitchell in, the sort of star that the team has sought for years, they introduced the star that they already have in hand, Jalen Brunson.
There was no mention of Mitchell in a made-for-television event. Rather than answer questions from the media the Knicks staged a one-on-one session on their network with season ticket holders invited, putting Brunson on stage. Team president Leon Rose was in the front row, along with his right-hand man, William Wesley, and Tom Thibodeau, but other than posing for pictures there was no presence from the front office, no comments, no answers.
If Rose is opting to maintain the low profile he’s cultivated in New York it’s hard to imagine that the Knicks wouldn’t want to tout the arrival of Brunson loudly. Brunson, with a four-year, $104 million deal, arrives in New York as the sort of floor leader that the team has coveted — a no-nonsense leader by words and deeds with a pair of national championships in college at Villanova. He also has a rising profile in the NBA, coming from a second-round pick entrance into the league to a starring role in Dallas last season.
He chose to depart Dallas and head to New York and this was the sort of connection that the front office could boast about — a lifelong friendship between Rose and Brunson. His father Rick, now a Knicks assistant coach after playing for them when they made their last NBA Finals appearance in 1999, was the first NBA client of Rose.
“I've known them for a long time,” Brunson said. “It's family. There's a comfort level of this and something I just couldn't turn a blind eye to. I knew that these guys have my best interest at heart. I think Leon probably saw me before my dad did, so I mean, it's just one big family for me and I'm just super excited.”
The Knicks clearly are not done with the building process even with the arrival of Brunson and Isaiah Hartenstein as free-agent acquisitions and the return of Mitchell Robinson, their own free agent who they brought back. It’s a long way up from last season’s disappointing performance when they fell to 37-45 and 11th place after a fourth-place finish in the first season for this regime.
It may be Mitchell who comes as the Knicks and Utah Jazz see who blinks first in trying to figure out a reasonable return for the high-scoring guard — who also has long ties with Rose. But if that's not to be, Brunson is confident that he can provide what the team needs.
Asked what the Knicks were getting in him, he said, “A person who is never going to quit. I've never quit. it's never been in my DNA. Something about me is: It's just about the little things for me. People see the stats and all that stuff but the things that matter to me the most. Just the little things, like, putting my body on the line for my teammates, diving on the ground, being that person who just everyone can turn to and say that guy is going to just do everything he can to help his team win game. That’s just how I've been my entire life.
“I always dreamed of it, always dreamed of it. I remember, I think I was in sixth grade when I pretty much quit all the sports. The fifth or sixth time you move as a family I was tired of trying to find new teams. Me and my dad, we started working out outside in the hot summer weather. So he said every day, whether I was in tears because I didn't want to do this anymore or I was happy because I just played really well in the game, he asked me every day: ‘Is this what you want to do for the rest of your life?’ And no matter if I was crying, the answer was always yes.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
