Some former New York Knicks players and team supporters have labeled All-Star Jalen Brunson as the greatest player since Walt Frazier, which caused one NBA great to speak out on those praises.
Mark Jackson pushes back against Frazier-Brunson comparisons
On Monday’s airing of his eponymous show, former Knicks star Mark Jackson gave Brunson his just due for leading New York to a big series win over the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, but had to crown another player who came after Frazier and before Brunson, contrary to who his former teammate Charles Oakley touted (h/t Geoff Magliocchetti of Fan Nation’s All Knicks):
“We love Oak. Oak’s a warrior and a tremendous teammate, a tremendous guy. But Oak made the statement that Jalen Brunson is the greatest New York Knick basketball player since Clyde Frazier. Timeout,” Jackson declared. “Are you kidding me? Again, I love you Oak, but what are you doing? Let me introduce you again to the greatest Knick, not just since Clyde Frazier, the greatest New York Knick basketball player of all time, that includes everybody.”
“You put everybody that ever played in the blue and orange and you put them on the draft board, the No. 1 pick is Patrick Ewing.”
Jalen Brunson was dominant in the Knicks’ first-round series win over the 76ers
Brunson averaged a whopping 35.5 points and nine assists per game as he put the Knicks on his back against a potent 76ers scoring duo of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, who combined to average 62.8 points per contest for the series.
All season long, Brunson has grown as an All-NBA-caliber talent. The Knicks went 1-4 when the Villanova product did not play, and excelled when he had big nights in the lineup.
Is Brunson’s stellar year enough to put him over Patrick Ewing as the greatest Knicks player since Walt Frazier?
He wound up finishing the regular season putting up 28.7 points a night on 47.9 percent shooting from the field and 40.1 percent from three-point land while boasting a 6.7-2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio. His 28.7 PPG even ranks third all-time on the Knicks’ franchise single-season scoring list, ahead of Ewing.
Despite being a hair above Ewing’s 28.6 PPG in the 1989-90 campaign, Brunson has more leg work to do to be in the same breath as the Hall-of-Famer.
Ewing led the Knicks to the NBA Finals in 1994, breaking a 21-year cold spell for the team. He also made 11 All-Star teams, three All-Defensive teams, and seven All-NBA teams, one of which was First Team, all in New York.
Brunson is only in his second season in the blue and orange. His play has been excellent to start his Knicks tenure and he’s now in MVP talks for this year. Albeit, in order to eclipse the Georgetown product and contend for status as the best player in franchise history, he’ll need to sustain this excellence for a longer period of time with the team.