Jalen Marquis Brunson (born August 31, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was drafted with the 33rd overall selection of the 2018 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks and played his first four seasons in the NBA with them. He played college basketball for the Villanova Wildcats, earning national player of the year honors as a junior and winning two national championships.
Brunson participated in the 2015 McDonald's All-American Boys Game, Jordan Brand Classic and Nike Hoop Summit. He led Stevenson to the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Class 4A championship. He won Illinois Mr. Basketball and earned the MVP of the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Cup. Brunson was a role player for the championship season of the 2015β16 Villanova Wildcats and named the national player of the year and a consensus first-team 2018 All-American for the championship season of the 2017β18 Wildcats.
Brunson played four years for the Dallas Mavericks. After helping the Mavericks reach the Western Conference finals, he signed with the New York Knicks as a free agent in 2022. With the Knicks, he became an NBA All-Star and received an All-NBA Team selection for the first time in . He set the NBA record for most three point shots made in a half without a miss (8) and tied the NBA record for most three point shots made in a single-game without a miss (9). In 2025, he led the Knicks to their first Eastern Conference Finals in 25 years.
On February 21, 2014, junior Brunson scored 57 points in a double overtime victory over Lake Forest High School. The performance gave him both the school single-game and career scoring records. On March 21, Brunson set the IHSA playoff single game scoring record against the Jahlil Okaforβled Whitney Young High School by scoring 56 points in a 75β68 state playoff semi-final loss. In the game, still images of a movement by Brunson appeared to be an obscene gesture, but video of the gesture were deemed to be inconclusive and an initial suspension for the subsequent consolation game was overturned. Brunson averaged 26.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.9 steals for a Stevenson team that finished the season with a 32β2 record. Two members of his high school team were National Football League athletes' offspring: Matt Morrissey and Cameron Green. Brunson was named Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Illinois as a junior. Following the season, Associated Press named him as the only non-senior on the Class 4A All-state first team that also included Okafor, Cliff Alexander, Tyler Ulis and Sean O'Mara. He finished fourth in the 2014 Illinois Mr. Basketball voting. In April 2014, Illinois, Purdue, Kansas and Villanova had in-home visits. On May 3, 2014, he announced the eight schools that he was considering playing college basketball for: UConn, Michigan State, Illinois, Kansas, Purdue, Villanova, Michigan and Temple. That summer he was the number one rated point guard according to ESPN, although the class had a notable shortage of elite pure point guards. On June 25βthe day after Jalen won a gold medal at the 2014 FIBA Americas Under-18 ChampionshipβRick Brunson received an offer as an on-bench assistant coach from Temple. The Temple offer fell through when Rick Brunson was arrested on various charges on July 25, and Temple fell out of the running for Jalen's services. Brunson participated in the July 9β11 LeBron James Skills Academy. On August 5, he announced official visits to Illinois on August 29β31, Villanova on September 4β6 and then Temple from September 11β13 and on August 9, he announced official visits to Michigan State from September 19β21 and Purdue on September 26β28.
On September 8, Brunson announced that he would be curtailing his recruitment and making his decision between Illinois and Villanova on September 10. On that date, Brunson committed to Villanova. At the time of his decision, he was ranked as the number one point guard in the national class of 2015 by Scout.com. Stevenson was a preseason top-10 team in the MaxPreps national high school rankings. A lot was expected of Brunson's team after losing to teams led by Parker and Okafor in the IHSA tournament final four in 2013 and 2014 even though no team from Lake County has ever won a state basketball championship. The team rattled off 11 straight victories to start the season before losing 88β81 to Chaminade Prep and its star Jayson Tatum in the Cancer Research Classic in Wheeling, WV, despite 48 points from Brunson. On January 17, Brunson and Stevenson faced Derryck Thornton, Jr. and Findlay Prep at the Hoophall Classic. At the time, Brunson was the number 3 ranked point guard in the class of 2015 and Thornton was the number 2 ranked point guard in the class of 2016 for the number 1 team in the country according to USA Today. Findlay, who was led by Arizona signee Allonzo Trier's 27 points, held Brunson to 26 in the second loss of the season for Stevenson, who had been 15β1. On January 28, he was named to the 2015 McDonald's All-American Boys Game roster, becoming the second player from Lake County to earn such recognition. On February 2, he was named to the 11-man Team USA for the Nike Hoop Summit. On February 21, Stevenson lost to Simeon as Brunson posted 25 points on 9β24 shooting, ending a 22-game in-state streak in a game that featured the top two teams in the state. The Simeon frontline featured three Big Ten Conference signees: D. J. Williams (Illinois), Ed Morrow (Nebraska) and Isaiah Moss (Iowa). On March 5, he was named to the Jordan Brand Classic roster.
On March 17, Brunson helped Stevenson qualify for a third consecutive appearance in the IHSA final four with a victory over Riverside Brookfield High School. In the game, Brunson became the Lake County career scoring record holder. On March 19, Brunson received the highest vote total for the Illinois Class 4A Associated Press All-state team. On March 20, he repeated as Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year. Brunson led Stevenson to the IHSA final four for a third consecutive time, but he led the team to the first state championship by a Lake county school with an IHSA Class 4A title-game record 30 points in a 57β40 victory over Normal Community High School. Brunson was 9-for-15 from the field and 9-for-9 from the free throw line. 2015 was Lake county's ninth consecutive year with a team reaching the IHSA final four; Stevenson became the first school in the large school division and the third school overall to win IHSA football and basketball state championships in the same year. The win got him out of the shadow of IHSA final four losses to Parker- and Okafor-led teams. Following the season, he won Illinois Mr. Basketball with 552 points and 99 of the 132 first place votes, ahead of fellow Jordan Brand All-American selection Charles Matthews, who had 157 points. Brunson finished his senior season with averages of 23.3 points, 5.2 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game and with shooting percentages of 38% on three-point shots and 83% on free throws. At the March 30 POWERADE Jam Fest associated with the McDonald's All-American game, Brunson won the skills competition over finalists Carlton Bragg and Isaiah Briscoe, and was a finalist for the three-point shooting contest. Brunson was a first-team Parade All-American, as well as a third-team USA Today All-USA high school basketball team selection. In the April 11 Nike Hoops Summit, Brunson had 12 points and seven assists in a 103β101 loss. In the April 17 Jordan Brand Classic, Brunson had a game-high three steals. He finished his high school career ranked No. 16 in the ESPN 100 and as the #2-point guard behind Isaiah Briscoe.
Brunson opened the season in the starting lineup with 12 points and 4 assists against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights on November 13. On November 26 in the semi-finals of the NIT Season Tip-Off against Stanford, Brunson posted 18 points. On December 28, he posted a then career-high 22 points against Penn. The 22-point effort was part of a 3β0 week for Villanova in which Brunson averaged 15.3 points and earned Big East Freshman of the Week. On February 8, the 2015β16 Wildcats became the first Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team to reach number one in the AP Poll by climbing to the top of the 2015β16 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings. Following the 2015β16 Big East season, he was a unanimous Big East All-Freshman Team selection. In the 2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament regional final against Kansas Brunson made the final two free throws that gave the Wildcats a two-possession lead with 3.5 seconds left. The 2015β16 Wildcats won the championship game of the tournament by defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 77β74, with Brunson as a starter.
Brunson was named as an Academic All-District selection, making him one of 40 finalists for the 15-man Academic All-America team. He was named as one of 10 semi-finalists for the Naismith Award. He was named as one of 20 late-season finalists for the Wooden Award. Following the regular season, Brunson was one of three unanimous 2017β18 All-Big East selections, and he was named both the Big East Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year and the Big East Scholar-Athlete of the Year a few days later. As a scholar, he was on pace to graduate during the summer after his junior season. He was a consensus first-team All-American after being selected as a first-team All-American by Sporting News, USBWA, Associated Press, and NABC. He was also awarded the USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy the Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year, the Naismith College Player of the Year, the John R. Wooden Award, the NABC Player of the Year, CBS Sports National Player of the Year, the Bob Cousy Award, and Sporting News Player of the Year. Brunson was a second-team Academic All-America selection. Brunson was named Most Outstanding Player of the East Region and was joined on the East Region All-tournament team by Omari Spellman and Eric Paschall. Villanova won the National Championship Game of the 2018 NCAA men's basketball tournament. Following his junior season, he declared for the 2018 NBA draft and hired an agent.
On December 17, 2019, Brunson was named college basketball player of the decade by Sporting News.
With DonΔiΔ out of the lineup on December 16, 2019, and Brunson starting, the 2019β20 Mavericks ended an 18-game win streak by the Milwaukee Bucks, on a night when Brunson posted a career-high 11 assists and his first double-double of the season (13 points). On March 13, 2020, Brunson was reported to have undergone surgery to fix a labrum injury in his right shoulder. During the 2020β21 NBA season, Brunson averaged career highs in points, rebounds and assists, finishing fourth in voting for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award.
On January 4, 2023, Brunson scored 38 points, alongside seven rebounds and six assists in a 117β114 win over the San Antonio Spurs. On January 9, Brunson put up a then career-high 44 points in a 111β107 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. On January 16, Brunson was recognized as NBA Eastern Conference player of the Week for the week of January 9–15 after averaging 34.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists with 3 30-point games as the Knicks went 3–1 for the week. It was his first career NBA Player of the Week award. On January 18, Brunson scored 32 points in a 116β105 loss against the Washington Wizards. He scored 25-plus points in eight straight games, the longest streak by a Knicks guard since Dick Barnett in 1965. Barnett logged 25 or more points in 12 consecutive contests.
On February 4, Brunson scored 41 points on 14-of-19 shooting, 5-of-7 from three, 8-of-10 from the free throw line, along with five rebounds and seven assists in a 134β128 overtime loss against the Los Angeles Clippers. On February 8, Villanova retired his jersey. On February 13, Brunson put up 40 points on 15-of-21 shooting from the field and added five assists in a 124β106 win over the Brooklyn Nets. On March 1, Brunson scored 39 points (30 points in the first half) on 15-of-18 shooting, 5-of-6 from three, 4-of-4 from the free throw line in a 142β118 win over the Brooklyn Nets. On March 2, Brunson won his first NBA Player of the Month award when he was named the NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month for February. He finished the month with 27.3 points and 6.0 assists while shooting 42.6% from 3-point range and 52.9% overall. The Knicks went 9β2, finishing out the month with six straight wins. On March 31, Brunson scored a career-high 48 points (33 points in the first half) on 18-of-32 shooting from the floor and delivered nine assists in a 130β116 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. In Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Miami Heat, Brunson put up 32 points and 11 assists in a 109β101 loss. He joined Walt Frazier and Patrick Ewing as the only players in Knicks history to put up at least 30 points and 10 assists in a playoff game. New York would go on to lose to Miami in six games despite Brunson tying his playoff career-high of 41 points in a 96β92 Game 6 loss.
On January 1, 2024, in new teammate OG Anunoby's debut with the Knicks, Brunson posted a career-high 14 assists against the Minnesota Timberwolves. On January 3, he followed that up with 13 assists against the Chicago Bulls, marking his first pair of games with back-to-back double digit assist totals that season. For the week of January 1—7, he was awarded his second NBA Player of the week award of the season and third of his career as he led the Knicks to a 4–0 record for the week. Later in the month, Brunson posted five consecutive 30-point games. Brunson's January was the 2nd highest single-month plus-minus (256) in NBA history (to Scottie Pippen's 272 in November 1996). On February 1, Brunson was named as reserve for the 2024 NBA All-Star Game for the first time in his career. On March 14, he scored 45 points against the Portland Trail Blazers. On March 16, Brunson scored 42 points against the Sacramento Kings, becoming the fourth Knick to score 40 or more in back-to-back games, joining Anthony, Patrick Ewing and Bernard King. On March 18, Brunson earned NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week recognition for averaging 35.7 points during a 3–0 week for the Knicks. On March 29, Brunson put up a career-high 61 points in a 130β126 overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs. The performance was one point shy of the Knicks franchise record by Carmelo Anthony set on January 24, 2014. Brunson was awarded with player of the month for March. He averaged 28.8 points and 5.8 assists per game during the month. On April 7 and 9, Brunson posted 43 points against Milwaukee and 45 against Chicago, respectively, for another back-to-back 40+ pair of games. Then, Brunson scored 39 points despite sitting out the fourth quarter against Boston on April 11. This effort made Brunson the third Knick to have posted 5 consecutive 35+-point games (King: 5, 1984–85; Anthony: 6, 2012–13). By finishing the season with 7 consecutive 30-point games, he tied the Knicks franchise single-season 30-point games record with his 36th (Richie Guerin, 1961β62; Ewing, 1989β90). The April 14 season finale 40-point performance against the Bulls also tied him with Ewing for second on the Knicks single-season 40-point game list with 11 (behind King, 13). On April 15, Brunson earned Eastern Conference Player of the Week for averaging 38.5 points, 7.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds and shooting 50 percent on three-point shots, while leading the Knicks to a 4–0 record and a number two playoff seeding. Brunson finished 5th in the NBA Most Valuable Player Award voting and was named to the All-NBA Team for the first time in his career.
In Game 4 of the first round of the playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers, Brunson scored 47 points in a 97β92 victory. The tally was a career single-game playoff-high and a Knicks single-game playoff-record. King had twice scored 46 during the 1984 NBA playoffs. With 10 assists, he became the first Knick to score 40 points during an assist-points playoff double double. He also became the first Knick with consecutive 30-point assist-points playoff double-doubles and his 24-point second half established the Knick career record with seven 20+-point playoff halves. In that series, he became the second NBA player (and the first since Oscar Robertson in the 1973 NBA playoffs) to have three 35+-point/10+-assist games in an NBA playoff series. He became the first player to close out an NBA playoff series with 3 consecutive 40+-point games since Michael Jordan did so with The Shot in the 1989 NBA playoffs. Brunson opened the second round of the playoffs against the Indiana Pacers with 43 points and 6 assists, becoming the 4th player in NBA history and first since Jordan in the 1993 NBA Finals to score 40+ in four consecutive playoff games and the first ever to do so with 5+ assists in each of the four playoff games. He also became the first Knick to post five consecutive 30+ point/5+ assist games. In Game 5, he scored 44 points in the game, including 28 in the first half to set a Knicks record for points scored in a playoff half. In Game 7, Brunson fractured his left hand, as the Knicks were eliminated in seven games; shortly after, he underwent surgery to repair his broken hand.
On August 6, the Knicks named Brunson as the 36th captain in franchise history. Brunson earned conference player of the week on December 2. On December 28, Brunson posted 55 points, 42 of which came in the second half or later, including nine in overtime in a 136β132 overtime victory over the Washington Wizards. On January 25, 2025, Brunson was named as an Eastern Conference starter for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game. On April 23, Brunson was named the NBA Clutch Player of the Year; during clutch situations in the regular season, he led the league in made field goals (52), and ranked second in total points (156) and third in total assists (28). In the same situations, he also shot 51.5% from the field, 84.0% from the free throw line and averaged a league-best 5.6 points per game. Brunson finished 10th in MVP Award voting and was named to the All-NBA Team for the second-straight year.
On May 1, Brunson scored 40 points and hit the game-winning three-pointer to seal the Knicks' series-clinching 116β113 Game 6 victory over the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the NBA playoffs. On May 12, Brunson recorded 39 points, 5 rebounds, and 12 assists in a 121β113 Game 4 victory, helping the Knicks take a 3β1 series lead over the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. He became the highest scorer in fourth quarters through the first 10 games of a playoffs since 1997, eclipsing Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry.
On May 21, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Brunson scored 43 points in a 138β135 overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers. With the performance, he recorded his 8th 40-point playoff game as a Knick, passing Bernard King for the most in franchise history, and tied Patrick Ewing with his 18th 30-point playoff game as a Knick. On May 23, In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Brunson posted 36 points and 11 assists in a 114β109 loss against the Pacers. He passed Ewing for the most 30-point playoff game in Knicks history. Also, only Michael Jordan and LeBron James have more 35-point, 10-assist playoff games in the Eastern Conference in NBA history. On May 29, In Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Brunson had 32 points, five rebounds, and five assists in the Knicksβ 111β94 victory over the Pacers. It was his 10th game this postseason with at least 30 points and five assists, making him one of only four players in NBA history to reach that mark in a single playoff run. The other three players to achieve this are Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Knicks would go on to lose to the Pacers in six games, falling 125β108 in the Game 6 closeout.
On June 18, 2015, Brunson was announced as a member of the 12-man 2015 USA Basketball Men's U19 World Cup Team for the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Cup. Brunson earned MVP of the tournament, after leading the team with 5.6 assists and 2.1 steals for the tournament. He posted a game-high 30 points in the semi-finals against Greece, and he tallied a team-high 14 points including six in overtime as well as seven assists, five rebounds and a steal in the gold medal game against Croatia. Brunson tied teammate Harry Giles, with a 14.0 average for the tournament. He dominated in the final two games. Based on this performance, he was recognized as the USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year, on December 21.
Brunson was one of the first commitments to Team USA for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, according to a June 4, 2023, tweet from Marc Stein, that was referenced by CBS Sports. The roster was finalized by July 3, with a relatively inexperienced squad. Team USA finished fourth in the tournament but finished high enough (top 2 in the Americas) to secure a 2024 Olympic Games invitation.
Brunson is close friends with New York Knicks teammate Josh Hart, a former teammate at Villanova and both run a podcast called Roommates together. Along with other former Villanova and Knicks teammates, Hart and Donte DiVincenzo were in attendance at Brunson's wedding to Marks, and DiVincenzo served as a groomsman.
On June 28, 2024, Brunson appeared in WWE SmackDown at Madison Square Garden, alongside Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton.
Recruiting
College career
Freshman season
Sophomore season
Junior season
Professional career
Dallas Mavericks (2018β2022)
Sixth man role (2018β2021)
Playoff success and departure (2021β2022)
New York Knicks (2022βpresent)
Breakthrough (2022β2023)
First All-Star and All-NBA appearances (2023β2024)
Clutch Player of the Year (2024β2025)
Playing style
National team career
Career statistics
NBA
Regular season
Playoffs
College
Records
NBA
Knicks
Personal life
See also
Footnotes
External links
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