Knicks head coach Mike Brown believes Jalen Brunson isn’t simply taking part in like an All-Star — he’s taking part in just like the league’s Most Beneficial Participant.
“To me, we’re talking MVP,” Brown mentioned after apply on the Knicks’ coaching facility on Thursday. “When you look around the league, and you’re talking about an MVP candidate, you’re talking about probably the top-three teams in each conference. You’ve gotta look at their main guy.”
By means of 24 video games, Brunson has been precisely that: The highest participant on a Knicks crew aiming to compete for a title. New York entered Saturday’s NBA Cup semifinal in opposition to the Orlando Magic with a 17–7 file, trailing solely the East-leading Detroit Pistons (19–5) within the convention. Boston (15–9), Orlando (15–10), and Toronto (15–11) have been packed collectively behind them for the No. 3 seed.
Out West, the reigning champion Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder (24–1) have lapped the sector, whereas the Lakers, Nuggets, Rockets, and Spurs occupy the subsequent tier. That issues to Brown, whose MVP standards is rooted in crew success.
“That boils down to Cade [Cunningham] and Jalen, Luka [Doncic] and Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander], and I don’t know who’s third in each conference, but whoever’s third,” Brown mentioned. “Those are the names that you’ve start with and end with because somebody’s gotta score, somebody’s gotta rebound, and usually if you’re a team that’s a Play-In team, or you’re out of the playoffs or in the bottom echelon of the playoffs, you’re not impacting [winning] at the level that the guys that I just mentioned are.”
Brunson has been the engine behind the Knicks’ rise. He’s averaging 28.3 factors and 6.3 assists on 48 p.c capturing, and his plus-9.2 internet score ranks third amongst all gamers averaging 25 or extra factors — behind solely the final two MVP winners: Nikola Jokic (plus-10.2) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (plus-15.4).
“And so for me, Jalen is just doing what he gets paid to do,” Brown mentioned. “He’s an MVP candidate in this business, and he’s just showing it again to everybody, and hopefully, you guys and the rest of the world take notice of it.”
The competitors, nonetheless, isn’t some cake stroll.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder have been all-but unbeatable with one loss in 25 video games. Jokic is as soon as once more bordering on a 30-point triple-double. Luka Doncic is averaging one thing near a 35-point triple-double. And Cunningham has each the East’s greatest file and nightly triple-double numbers of his personal.
Brunson, for all his manufacturing and successful, has by no means acquired a first-, second-, or third-place MVP vote — even after main New York to back-to-back 50-win seasons. If he earns votes this spring, he would change into the primary Knick to take action since Carmelo Anthony completed third in 2013 behind LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
Earlier than that, Patrick Ewing earned MVP consideration within the Knicks’ Nineties heyday. Bernard King, Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier, and Dave DeBusschere additionally acquired votes throughout their eras. Just one Knick has ever gained the award outright: Willis Reed in 1970.
But Brunson’s case is rising by the week. And if the Knicks preserve successful at this clip, Brown could also be proper — the dialog can begin anyplace, however there’s an opportunity it’d finish proper right here in New York.
