For this writer — this Chicago-born, -raised, -lived, lives, gonna-die-here writer — the Knicks making it to the NBA Finals is all things, everything, plus the signing bonus.
Bigger than the Cubs winning a World Series, this is not nor will be, as 27 years — even by New York standards — cannot match a drought that spanned 108 years, but the magnitude of these Knicks being at the center of the basketball and sports world (until the World Cup begins in a few weeks) awaiting a Game 1 in the NBA Finals is unequaled.
These Knicks. Those words carry significant and historical weight. Because at the center of these Knicks becoming “these Knicks” is a point god from Chicago (Lincolnshire, to keep it exact) who is left-handedly responsible for making the whole damn thing happen.
There are only a few handfuls of people who knew Jalen Brunson would one day find himself here, fewer who knew he’d be the reason. But for those who’ve followed him being the reason Stevenson was able to secure an Illinois Class 4A chip in 2015, to only follow that up with being the reason Villanova won two NCAA chips in three years between 2016 and 2018, to only be the central reason in his first year starting for Dallas (a year after winning the NBA sixth man award) that “those Mavs” made the Western Conference finals.
The straight-up, modern-day definition of a since-birth winner. But no one seemed to really give any damns until now. Because Brunson’s achievements in the past were all probable. This, being the unexpected leader of a Knicks team that hasn’t reached the Finals in 27 years, impossible.
But they ain’t know he like we.
The too-small narrative made famous by Becky Hammon and her “You got to have a 1A dude. . . . He’s too small. If your best player is small, you’re not winning. . . . Steph Curry is the only dude” circa 2023 about Brunson. The non-superstar narrative made infamous by Stephen A. Smith and his ongoing “I’m tired y’all. . . . The Knicks are acting like he’s KD. . . . Jalen Brunson isn’t the answer. . . . You creating this cap space to get Jalen Brunson? . . . All of this stuff you’re going to because you’re selling New York on Jalen Brunson? . . . [He] should not be your No. 1 option. . . . They need to get a No. 1 with Jalen Brunson as the No. 2. . . . I think it’s a Donovan Mitchell. . . . I prefer Donovan Mitchell” obtuseness circa 2022-2024.
Now peep who has Vanity Fair jumping on the jock with a “The Triumph, Transformational Power of 1 option Jalen Brunson” feature where they focus on the following: “In his four seasons leading the Knicks, New York’s most beloved athlete has restored the city’s belief in the possibility of its first NBA championship since the ’70s.” Has Will Leitch writing in New York magazine “All the Pain Was Worth It.” Is on the June 1 cover of the New Yorker in a Mark Ulriksen art piece of himself towering over all other Knick GOATs titled “Kings of New York.” Has The Athletic doing a full feature on Knicks president Leon Rose building the team into title contenders. (Wait, no media love given to World Wide Wes?) Had Gary Vee on “All The Smoke” saying, “If the Knicks win the NBA championship, the Statue of Liberty is going to be floating in the [bleeping] Hudson River.”
All because James Dolan put the ball and his team’s faith in the hands of a kid with Chicago DNA and asked him to do for them what he has been doing his entire basketball life. To not just lead, but to win . . . it all. Or in these Knicks’ case: be the one who is the reason they’re in position to win . . . it all.
It took a brotha from here, same as it did in Detroit with Isiah Thomas in 1989 and 1990, same as it did for Miami with Dwyane Wade in 2006, to get crowns lifted. Yes, Steph Curry, Zeke (Thomas), Chauncey Billups and Gus Williams historically are the only 6-3-and-under “small” ballers to lead teams to the promised land, but Brunson sitting on the verge of doing it in New York is different than what any other non-Magic Johnson point guard in the history of the NBA has done in the past. “Greatest Knick Ever” if he wins? That’s tertiary. “First Ballot” (Hall of Famer) should replace “Big Body” as the Brunson sobriquet; NBA100 should be his post-career inclusion in 2046.
There was a moment when it seemed like Brunson let everything sink into him. Where he seemed to personalize all that had happened, all that he has made happen. Sitting in his locker stall with the Eastern Conference MVP trophy resting on top of his ice-wrapped left knee, left hand resting atop the hardware. For less than two seconds, a beautifully comfortable and overdue condescending look that overcame his face spoke his truth to his current power. Power he has always had.
As a supreme and commonly delusional Knicks fan, I’ve been waiting since the “1-9-9-9” Common dropped knowledge about for this return. For this Jalen Brunson moment, for someone who foresaw this in him since high school, this wait seems prophetically just about the same. Without the delusional part.
