Quantified: Is Jalen Brunson the greatest Knick ever?

There’s a saying in New York that bonds together the generations of five boroughs and beyond.

“Once a Knick, always a Knick.”

If you suit up for the New York Knicks, at any point, no matter how briefly, you will achieve immortality within Madison Square Garden.

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But there are levels to this. As any Knicks fan will readily attest, there’s a massive difference between Carmelo Anthony and Cleanthony Early. Between Walt Frazier and Walter McCarty.

If Jalen Brunson wins the 2026 NBA Finals, which begin Wednesday, the point guard will reach a level that only few Knicks have ever touched. Would he be the greatest Knicks player of all time? Better than Carmelo and his patented jumper? More iconic than Patrick Ewing and his sweaty kneepads? Gasp — more legendary than Walt “Clyde” Frazier and Willis Reed?

To get to the bottom of this, I created a six-pronged metric to see where Brunson currently ranks among the Knicks legends and additionally how he’d stack up if this squad wins it all this year. I’ve coined it A.L.W.A.Y.S., which is a highly sophisticated composite metric that blends six subscores that quantify a player’s contributions to Knicks canon. For each subscore, players are graded on a five-point scale, up to five points for maximum contribution and down to zero for completely empty output. The “S” category for “Success In Playoffs” is graded on a 10-point scale for extra weighting. A perfect A.L.W.A.Y.S. grading will be worth 35 points.

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Here are the six subscores of A.L.W.A.Y.S. for your perusal:

A for A1 Since Day One

Is this player from New York or the tri-state area? Was he drafted by the Knicks or did he join at a later date? Did his dad or family member play for the Knicks?

L for Lore 

Did this player have iconic moments that Knicks fans will tell their grandkids about? Celebrations, off-court news items or pop culture contributions not required but greatly encouraged. This category served as the tiebreaker, if needed.

W for Wins in Regular Season 

Were the Knicks good when this player played? How were their regular-season records with this player in uniform?

A…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/quantified-is-jalen-brunson-the-greatest-knick-ever-172347489.html

Author : Tom Haberstroh

Publish date : 2026-06-01 17:23:00

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