After falling short multiple times throughout his NBA career, Jalen Brunson has been named an All-Star for the first time.
To top off his Thursday, Brunson recorded a 40-piece and led New York to a comeback victory against Indiana at Madison Square Garden.
The home crowd could be heard chanting “MVP” at Brunson during his postgame interview – which was an emotional one.
Brunson was asked by the interviewer to talk about his journey and how he arrived at being named an All-Star reserve.
Attempting to hold back tears, Brunson replied with, “I mean, I got nothing to say. I got nothing to say.”
Once the dust had settled later that night, Brunson was able to reflect.
“It was really cool,” Brunson said. “The whole experience. The night. How we won. Obviously, what happened before the game … you always work for certain moments, but you never know how to react when they happen. So it was special.”
The guard was the NPOY and won two titles at Villanova, but slipped to the second round in the draft and ended up being drafted as the 33rd overall pick by Dallas.
In his final year at the Mavs, he helped the franchise reach the Western Conference Finals, yet Dallas didn’t re-sign him.
The 27-year-old is now averaging a career-high 27.1 points with NY, to go with 6.4 assists on the season and has had 30+ point games on 19 occasions this season.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau has known Brunson since he was a little boy, as he coached Brunson’s father, Rick (who is actually now on Thibodeau’s staff) and is proud of how far he’s come.
“It’s surreal. Each step of the way, there’s always been naysayers, and he always proves them wrong.”
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