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Jalen Brunson is another season or two at the level he showed in 2023-24 from flying up this ranking, as the former Villanova standout is hitting his stride now as an All-NBA-level player, if not as a borderline MVP candidate (before you scoff, he finished fifth in the MVP in 2023-24). As it applies to this article, it’s a fun anecdote that Brunson has reached this level as a member of a Knicks team that his father, Rick Brunson, is an assistant coach for.
The elder Brunson was an NBA player himself, a bulldog of a guard, though not one was even close to the same offensive level as Jalen Brunson. Rick Brunson spent nine seasons in the NBA, playing for eight different teams in that time span while averaging 3.2 points and 2.6 assists in 337 appearances in the Association.
Even more fascinating is the fact that Jalen’s current head coach, Tom Thibodeau, has known his All-Star guard since he was a child, as Rick Brunson would bring his son into the Knicks locker room while Thibodeau was an assistant coach for the team in the late ’90s (via ESPN):
Dressed in his usual gray Knicks pullover before a recent game, Thibodeau can only chuckle when he thinks about the first time he met Jalen Brunson. Rick’s son, as he was known then, just 5 or 6 years old at the time, would come into the Knicks locker room after games, imitating then-Knicks stars such as Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell. Thibodeau, who originally worked as an assistant with the Knicks from 1996-2003, knew that the young boy had made an impression within a veteran Knicks locker room. “You have no idea that he’s going to end up being a pro or anything like that, but it was uncanny,” Thibodeau said. “Everyone would just crack up. He had all their footwork down, jab steps, everything. “‘Do Allan Houston,’ boom, boom, boom. ‘Do Latrell,’ boom, boom, boom. So a lot of fun. He’d come in, he’d down the L for Larry Johnson. He’s just a great kid. And then you saw how much he loved the game. Rick would bring him to practice once in a while in the summers. He was in the gym all the time, and he was a sponge.”
The time the younger Brunson spent around the NBA as a child, including when his father became an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls under Thibodeau during the Derrick Rose era, played a huge part in how he has developed as a player, in high school, college and now the NBA:
Thibodeau credits Jalen’s development to both Rick and Brunson’s mother, Sandra. But both the Knicks coach and his star point guard are quick to note the younger Brunson’s rise within the game is due, at least in part, to growing up around the NBA world. Rick Brunson had been out of league for three seasons when Thibodeau brought him on board in Chicago — at the same time another young point guard was beginning to make his mark on the NBA. Derrick Rose had already been Rookie of the Year and an All-Star before Thibodeau’s arrival, but he blossomed into the league’s MVP in Thibodeau’s first season.
Those Bulls stars of the early ’10s, including Rose, would even show up to watch Brunson’s high school games as the now-27-year-old turned into a top-level college prospect:
Rose and many other Bulls players embraced the young Jalen, with many of them showing up to watch him as he grew his game at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Almost 15 years after they first met, Rose, now a backup point guard for Thibodeau’s Knicks, still serves as a sounding board as Jalen, 26, enters his NBA prime. “That’s someone who I idolized growing up,” Brunson said of Rose, “Seeing what he’s done as a player and talking with him all the time, just boosts my confidence.” Said Rose: “It’s funny how everything comes full circle. Me being able to watch him ever since he was younger, seeing the progression every year, seeing how dedicated he is every year, seeing how he listened. I’m not surprised how he’s playing right now because of how serious he’s taking [everything], how professional he is with everything.”
Jalen’s stats: 16.9 ppg, 4.7 apg, 3.2 rpg, 0.7 spg, 0.1 bpg, 39.1 3P%, 48.9 FG% in 422 games
Rick’s stats: 3.2 ppg, 2.6 apg, 1.3 rpg, 0.6 spg, 0.1 bpg, 36.2 3P%, 37.8 FG% in 337 games