Bullet point summary by AI
- Jalen Brunson leading the Knicks to the NBA Finals cements his status as a modern franchise legend, sparking debate about his all-time ranking.
- Brunson holds the highest peak Box Plus-Minus in franchise history, but legends like Ewing and Reed maintain an edge in career MVP vote shares.
- Though he may not definitively hold the greatest single peak in team history yet, Brunson has undeniably earned his spot on the Knicks’ Mount Rushmore.
For the first time in nearly three decades, the NBA Finals will feature some home games at Madison Square Garden. The New York Knicks made sure of that after beating the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 to conclude a perfect sweep of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Many characters deserve credit for the Knicks’ most successful season of this century. But there is no question that this team would not be here if not for Jalen Brunson. Ever since he signed with New York back in the summer of 2022, the Knicks have been a perennial threat in the Eastern Conference. In four years, the Knicks have never not made it to the second round, and after beating the Cavaliers, New York has now won seven playoff series during the Brunson era.
At this point, Brunson has solidified himself as a franchise icon. The only question now is just how high up the ranks is Brunson stationed currently?
The greatest New York Knicks of all-time
Any time you do this kind of exercise, you need to specify whether you are indexing toward longevity or peak. If we are doing longevity, then Brunson, despite all his success, is going to lose to the likes of Patrick Ewing, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, and Willis Reed, as all of them spent a decade in a Knicks’ uniform.
So, let’s focus on the greatest peaks in franchise history. As we have done before with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, one easy way to do this is by comparing Brunson’s Box Plus-Minus to his predecessors.
According to the Thinking Basketball version of BPM, Brunson’s individual marks actually peaked in 2023-24 at +4.8. Last year, he was at a +4.6, and this season, Brunson posted a +4.2.
Brunson’s marks in 2023-24 and 2024-25 are actually higher than any other season by a Knicks player. Ewing is the next highest, posting a BPM of +4.4 in 1988-89. Reed’s best was in 1968-69 (+4.0). Meanwhile, Frazier peaked in 1969-70, with a BPM of +3.7.
However, as we’ve mentioned before, BPM can tend to be inflated for modern players given the increase in pace and offensive efficiency (which these types of one-number metrics are geared toward). When you take into account each player’s ranking for that given season, Brunson, Ewing, Reed, and Frazier are all basically neck-to-neck-to-neck-to-neck.
|
Player Name |
Peak BPM Percentile |
|---|---|
|
Jalen Brunson |
96th |
|
Patrick Ewing |
95th |
|
Willis Reed |
94th |
|
Walt Frazier |
92nd |
Another way to compare these four players is MVP vote shares, since it gives you a good sense of how a player was viewed among their peers. Of the four players, Reed is the only one to win MVP (1969-70). However, Ewing did get six top five finishes. Frazier also had one during the year Reed won MVP. To this point, Brunson also only has one fifth place finish (2023-24).
Given how few many more top five MVP finishes Ewing and Reed have than Brunson, and how close the four are in peak BPM, it is safe to say that Brunson doesn’t yet have the clear best peak in Knicks’ history.
Still, considering that there is enough room for four faces on Mt. Rushmore, Brunson surely deserves to be on that hypothetical Knicks’ monument.
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