Jalen Brunson had a tremendous 2023-24 NBA regular season for the New York Knicks, and finished fifth in MVP voting as a result. The NBA released the final voting tally for the top regular season award on X on Wednesday:
Knicks’ Brunson finished in the top five of 2024 NBA MVP voting
Brunson came in behind 2024 league MVP Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets) and MVP runner-up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder), as well as Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks). They finished first through fourth respectively.
Brunson did not earn any first-place votes but did pick up three second-place votes, one third-place vote, as well as 28 fourth-place votes and 32 fifth-place votes, bringing his total points count to 142 total points.
Brunson was among the league leaders in scoring and put up gaudy stats in 2023-24
The 2024 All-Star finished No. 4 league-wide in scoring with 28.7 points per game, and No. 16 overall in assists with 6.7 dimes on a nightly basis. His points and assists averages were career-highs, as well as his 0.9 steals and 84.7 percent clip from the free-throw line.
Brunson’s heroics leading the Knicks to a 50-win season were not enough to get the nod over Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic
Brunson led the Knicks to the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 50-32 record in the regular season. This marked the Knicks’ first 50-win season since 2012-13 and only their third in the new millennium.
This year’s winner, Jokic, won his third career MVP award while leading the defending champion Nuggets to the best record in the West and second overall seed in the conference at 57-25 behind 26.4 PPG, 12.4 RPG, and nine APG.
Despite losing to Jokic, the Villanova product is in line to earn an All-NBA nod for his work during the 82-game slate. If the MVP voting is indicative of All-NBA selections, Brunson stands a great chance of garnering Second Team honors.