Jalen Brunson Just Became the Greatest Knick
On Saturday night in San Antonio, Jalen Brunson scored 45 points, 29 of them in the second half, and the New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 to win their first NBA championship since 1973. After trailing by 10 with 8 minutes left, Brunson scored 10 straight points himself to tie it, then hit the go-ahead floater with 65 seconds to play. All 11 media members voting for the Bill Russell Trophy chose him. Unanimously.
Fifty-three years. That is how long Knicks fans waited for this.
The Numbers
He passed Willis Reed’s 38-point Knicks Finals record set in 1970. He averaged 32.6 points for the series, the highest by a point guard in Finals history. He became only the second player ever to score 45 in a road championship-clinching game, joining Michael Jordan in 1998. And at 6’1″, he is just the third player 6’3″ or under to lead a championship team in scoring and win Finals MVP, after Isiah Thomas and Stephen Curry.
What Clyde Said
Walt Frazier, who led the last two Knicks title teams as their point guard, did not hedge. “He’s one of the greatest Knicks ever,” Frazier said after the game. “Him, me, Ewing and Willis.”
Four names. The debate about the order is going to run for years.
He Chose This
Here is what makes Brunson’s case harder to dismiss than the stats alone. He signed with the Knicks when bigger names passed. He took a pay cut to bring in better teammates. He committed to a city and a franchise that had given fans very little reason to believe in it for decades. Then he built a team in his own image: no single First-Team All-NBA player, a third seed, not one starter drafted by the organization. The 2026 Knicks are the first champion since the 2004 Pistons built like that.
Most people do not choose the harder path when an easier one is available. Brunson did. Then he made it work.
The Honest Counter
Frazier won two championships with the Knicks. Willis Reed won two. Both are Hall of Famers. Brunson has one ring, and his father, Rick Brunson, the team’s assistant coach, was asked point-blank after the game who the greatest Knick was. He did not pick his son.
Brunson is 29. The conversation is not over.
What Thursday’s Parade Is Actually About
This is not just a sports story. It is about what happens when someone picks something difficult, stays with it longer than most people would, and refuses to let the noise change the direction. New York has watched that play out over four years in real time. Fans who grew up on Reed limping out of a tunnel in 1970. Fans who sat through Carmelo, through Kristaps, through every false start since. They kept showing up because the city runs on that kind of belief.
Brunson gave it somewhere to land.
The parade is Thursday.
