That Eric Alper

The Knicks are champions for the first time since 1973, and Jalen Brunson is the engine that got them there. He capped a five-game NBA Finals win over the San Antonio Spurs with a 45-point masterpiece in the Game 5 closeout, walking away with Finals MVP honors after also claiming Eastern Conference Finals MVP. The undersized point guard with the old-man footwork and the bottomless bag of clutch shots delivered a title to the most title-starved fanbase in basketball. One fact for every year of the wait, here are 53 things to know about the man who ended it.

1. He was born August 31, 1996, in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
2. His father is Rick Brunson, who spent nine seasons in the NBA.
3. His parents met at Temple University, where Rick played basketball and his mother Sandra played volleyball.
4. As a kid, Jalen hung around Knicks locker rooms while his dad played there and future coach Tom Thibodeau worked as an assistant.
5. His mother roomed with Kobe Bryant’s sister, Sharia Washington, on Temple’s volleyball team.
6. Like his father, he’s a left-handed player.
7. His family moved seven times before settling in Lincolnshire, Illinois, in 2010.
8. At Stevenson High School, he scored 57 points in a double-overtime game as a junior, setting school single-game and career scoring records.
9. He set the IHSA playoff single-game scoring record with 56 points against Jahlil Okafor’s Whitney Young team.
10. He won Illinois Mr. Basketball in 2015, taking 99 of 132 first-place votes.
11. He led Stevenson to the first state title by any Lake County school, scoring a Class 4A title-game record 30 points in the final.
12. That same year, Stevenson became one of just a few schools to win football and basketball state titles in the same year.
13. He was a McDonald’s All-American and won the skills competition at the 2015 event.
14. He committed to Villanova over Illinois, choosing the Wildcats in September 2014.
15. He won two NCAA championships at Villanova, in 2016 and 2018.
16. As a freshman, he hit the clinching free throws in the 2016 Elite Eight win over Kansas.
17. In 2018, he swept national player of the year honors, winning the Wooden, Naismith, AP, and Oscar Robertson awards.
18. He was also a two-time Academic All-American and was on pace to graduate the summer after his junior year.
19. Sporting News named him college basketball’s Player of the Decade in 2019.
20. Villanova retired his No. 1 jersey in 2023.
21. The Dallas Mavericks drafted him 33rd overall in 2018, in the second round.
22. He was the fourth and final Villanova player taken in that draft.
23. He made his NBA debut on October 17, 2018, against the Phoenix Suns.
24. He spent his first four seasons in Dallas, largely as a sixth man before breaking out.
25. He finished fourth in Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2020-21.
26. In the 2022 playoffs, with Luka Dončić sidelined, he dropped 41 points on the Jazz in a single game.
27. He signed with the Knicks as a free agent in July 2022 on a four-year, $104 million deal.
28. His father was hired as a Knicks assistant coach just weeks before Jalen signed.
29. The Knicks were docked a 2025 second-round pick for tampering in his free agency.
30. On December 15, 2023, he scored a then-career-high 50 points and went 9-for-9 from three.
31. That was the first 50-point game in NBA history without a missed three-pointer (minimum eight attempts).
32. He became the first NBA player to shoot 8-for-8 on threes in a single half.
33. He set the NBA record for most threes in a half without a miss (8).
34. He tied the NBA record for most threes in a game without a miss (9).
35. On March 29, 2024, he poured in a career-high 61 points against the Spurs.
36. He earned his first All-Star selection in 2024 and made the All-NBA Second Team that same year.
37. In the 2024 playoffs, he scored 47 in a game against the 76ers, a Knicks single-game playoff record.
38. He became the first player since Michael Jordan in 1989 to close a series with three straight 40-point games.
39. He fractured his hand in Game 7 against the Pacers that postseason and needed surgery.
40. In July 2024, he signed an extension worth $156.5 million, leaving roughly $113 million on the table to give the team flexibility.
41. The Knicks named him the 36th captain in franchise history in August 2024.
42. He won NBA Clutch Player of the Year in 2025.
43. He led the Knicks to the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals, their first since 2000.
44. In December 2025, he won NBA Cup MVP as the Knicks took the tournament title.
45. He crossed 10,000 career points in January 2026.
46. He’s been an All-Star three straight years (2024-2026) and All-NBA Second Team three straight years.
47. In the 2026 East Finals, the Knicks swept the Cavaliers and he was named series MVP.
48. In Game 1 of the Finals, he scored 30, joining Willis Reed as the only Knicks to hit 30 in a Finals debut.
49. In Game 4, his 36 points helped erase a 29-point deficit, the largest comeback in NBA Finals history.
50. His 45 points in the Game 5 closeout set a Knicks Finals single-game record.
51. He joined Michael Jordan as the only guards to score 45-plus in a Finals clincher.
52. He’s one of only five players ever to win an NCAA title, Naismith Player of the Year, an NBA title, and Finals MVP, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Bill Walton.
53. He’s married to high school sweetheart Ali Marks, whom he proposed to on Stevenson’s gym floor, and runs the “Roommates” podcast with teammate Josh Hart.