LIFE MATTERS: Too small

By Dr Dencio S Acop

Jalen Brunson has suddenly exploded onto the NBA scene and the world stage. He has done it by winning the 2026 NBA title as most valuable player, leading the New York Knicks to their third title after 53 years of championship drought. He now has the recognition he so well deserves. Today, he stands taller than the gigantic Victor Wembanyama and bigger than all his critics. He is the “King of New York”. Many of the NBA greats, still alive today, who’ve seen him play are almost unanimous in saying that Brunson is something different. That he thrives under pressure delivering his best when needed most in the 4th quarter. How he dismantles defenses as he attacks with relentless speed and power, elite footwork, calm control, and superior basketball IQ to make difficult shots with great accuracy while on the move. How he controls the tempo attacking the mismatch before the defense has fully formed, absorbing the physical punishment from bumping into defenders much taller and heavier. How he is a complete player on the field of battle – a combination of everything all at once. Brunson’s manner of attacking and his consistency doing it dismantles organized defenses around him, creating opportunities for his teammates without diminishing his own offensive production. He uses individual gravity to create a collective offense that is so effective. While the style of play in the NBA today tends to move away from between-the-rim plays and launches from behind the arc, Brunson’s multiple arsenals of highly effective mid-range scoring (like his clutch jumper or driving floater) make him unpredictable and dangerous. As Kevin Garnett said, Brunson is simply “legendary”. His calm demeanor and stability under extreme pressure are genuinely effective, where opponents with lesser qualities panic and fall apart from the cold execution of his attacks toward the basket. Brunson describes himself as a “hustle player,” drawing a high number of offensive fouls due to his attacking style, which evolved out of necessity due to his being equipped with strength and agility but not the height, length, or verticality to differentiate himself off the ground. With what he’s achieved, his height disadvantage has become an advantage, evolving him into the complete player he is today, inch by inch, brick by brick. Brunson is fearless, relentless, and just too skillful. Today, he stands peerless and in a league of his own. He is now officially one of the NBA’s all-time greats! 

Eight seasons with the NBA and Brunson has finally won the title. I’d say Brunson should have won the title even sooner had the league assessed his tremendous ability and heart better. For some reason, the NBA thought Jalen was “too short” at 6 feet, 2 inches. But I also think that Brunson’s humbleness and aversion to flashiness were lost on the league decision-makers who had other taller and more interesting personality players they had to deal with. Like any genuine talent who knew what he could deliver, Brunson hoped that what he could show on the court would be sufficient to tilt the odds in his favor. He was probably even surprised that the league did not appreciate what he’d already achieved in the NCAA championships. Clear evidence of this bias against him was that he was the fourth and last pick from Villanova – the same team he led in the NCAA championships. But Brunson took everything in stride. Given all his physical abilities and talent, Brunson has supernatural faith which fuels his inner strength. Villanova – the same school the now Pope Leo XIV attended – may have a role in Brunson’s spiritual development. We can see from his early years that Brunson is not a quitter. He finishes what he starts to full completion. Before joining the NBA, he graduated from Villanova University with a bachelor’s degree in communications. Despite being drafted into the league after his junior year, he sacrificed his summer breaks to take necessary courses and completed his degree in just three years. Although he learned basketball from his father (former NBA player Rick Brunson) and informally trained with other NBA professionals like Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, Brunson also attended elite development programs like the USA Basketball developmental mini-camps and the Nike Hoop Summit. In high school, he participated in the 2015 McDonald’s All-American Boys Game and the Jordan Brand Classic to test his skills against top national recruits. At Villanova (2015-2018), he honed his college-level skills, decision-making, and basketball IQ under head coach Jay Wright, ultimately leading the Wildcats to two NCAA championships. Due to his heart and hard work, Brunson has to date earned many major awards including becoming an NBA champion, finals MVP, NBA cup champion, NBA cup MVP, 3X NBA all-star, 3X all-NBA second team, and 2018 Bob Cousy, Lute Olson, and Robert Greasey awardee. Despite all these recognitions, Brunson appears to be just beginning in his quest for more given his being at the top of his game and only 29 years old. 

Unselfish and humble at his core, Brunson signed an extension contract with the Knicks organization in 2024 taking a $113M pay cut so the Knicks could acquire a championship-caliber roster that included Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, and OG Anunoby. Again, that gesture from Brunson manifests the leader of substance and character that he is besides being an awesome player. Deflecting focus on himself after Anunoby’s winning tip-in defeating the Spurs at the tail-end of their record-breaking 29-point comeback, Brunson told his teammates: “We have a superstar in our locker room.” I also think that Brunson is a man of destiny as providence smiled upon his career in 2022 when he was let go by the Dallas Mavericks just as the Knicks signed in his father as an assistant coach. Brunson therefore went to New York – an organization hungry for a championship since 1973. The hiring of Mike Brown as head coach in 2025 also sealed the possibility of a successful Knicks championship run as today’s results now prove. The determination of the New York organization to go for the Larry O’Brien trophy was further sealed with the official designation of Brunson as the 36^th captain of the team after he signed his 2024 contract extension. Thus began the completed structure of the team meant for the ages, as far as New York had hoped. Now, as we all know, that hope wasn’t lost. As Knicks staffer James Edwards wrote on how Jalen Brunson has inspired his teammates: “Teams often reflect the personality of their leadership. The Knicks have taken on Brunson’s persona.”    

Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Villanova-educated Brunson is tight with his values and family. He is of Jamaican descent through his maternal grandparents who were both born in Jamaica. As earlier stated, his father, Rick is himself a former NBA player who played for the Knicks when San Antonio beat them in the 1999 NBA finals. Now as assistant coach for the Knicks, he and Jalen made history as the first father-son coach/player duo, to reach the NBA finals together, beating the Spurs and vindicating the 1999 loss. Jalen’s mother, Sandra, was a Temple University volleyball player who became a lawyer. His younger sister, Erica, works with creative artists. Jalen’s wife is Dr. Alison Marks, a physical therapist, with whom he has a daughter, Jordyn, born a year after their wedding in 2023. Brunson is close to teammate Josh Hart and former teammate Donte DiVincenzo. All three played for Villanova and won an NCAA championship together. However, DiVincenzo was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2024. A true warrior on and off the court, Brunson has had his fair share of injuries from playing. In March 2020, he underwent surgery to fix a labrum injury in his right shoulder. In the 2023-2024 season, he again underwent surgery to repair his fractured left hand. Somehow, he’s managed to get back on his feet and continue to play at the very high level that he does. 

Brunson is one of only five players in basketball history to win an NCAA championship, the Naismith College Player of the Year Award, an NBA title, and the NBA Finals MVP Award, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Bill Walton. He became one of only four second-round NBA draft picks to win an NBA finals MVP, joining Willis Reed, Nikola Jokic, and Dennis Johnson. Brunson’s NBA career is still being written. It is hard to make comparisons as the NBA is full of greats — past, present, and future. But suffice it to say that we have just witnessed a new chapter in the 2026 championship run of a game that never ceases to amaze! We’ve seen championships before. Somehow, Jalen Brunson and the current Knicks team seem to be telling us that we still haven’t seen it all. In a league that now makes dynasties almost impossible, repeats and threepeats are indeed hard to come by. But who knows what miracles the New Yorker king and his men can still pull off?