Josh Hart has spent a decade watching Jalen Brunson become famous and has apparently decided to remain unimpressed. Asked Thursday whether there was a moment this summer where he thought, in the reporter’s words, “my best friend from college is so freakin’ famous now,” Hart did not blink.
“He’s not LeBron, let’s relax.”
The clip, posted by SNY Knicks, is four seconds of a guy refusing to let his friend enjoy anything. It is also the most New York answer available.
The Problem Is That Brunson Kind of Is That Famous Now
Hart is wrong, and he knows he is wrong. Brunson spent June winning the Knicks their first championship since 1973, beating San Antonio in five games and taking Finals MVP. He dropped 45 points in the clinching Game 5 on the road, tying Michael Jordan’s record for the most points scored in a road title-clinching Finals game.
Then he hosted Saturday Night Live. He has a guest spot lined up on Law and Order: SVU in November. A 30-year-old point guard from a franchise that had been waiting 53 years does not get to be anonymous after that.
The production backs the fame up. Brunson averaged 26.0 points and 6.8 assists across 74 games last season while shooting 46.7 percent. In the playoffs he pushed it to 28.4 points a night over 19 games.
Hart Has Standing, Though
This is why the line lands instead of reading as a shot. Hart and Brunson won at Villanova together before either of them was anything in the NBA, which buys the right to deflate a teammate in public.
And Hart is not a bystander on this team. In the title run he put up 10.4 points, 8.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists a game, led the roster in deflections at 3.4 per game and defended whoever needed defending. He is the connective tissue on a champion, which is a real job even if nobody is asking him to host a sketch show.
What Camp Actually Looks Like
Under Mike Brown, who won the thing in his first season after replacing Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks are selling vigilance rather than celebration. Brown’s message is that the team “can’t afford to have any slippage in our process.”
The core is intact. Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Hart all return off a 53-29 season that turned into a 13-game playoff win streak, the second longest in league history. Mitchell Robinson left for Boston and Andre Drummond came in behind him.
Brunson also had wrist surgery in the offseason after playing through pain during the title run, and said in late September that he is fully cleared for camp. That is the only Brunson update that changes anything about New York’s season.
The Real Read
Hart’s joke works because it names the one thing standing between Brunson and genuine household-name status in this country, which is that LeBron James exists and has for 23 years. Brunson is a champion, a Finals MVP and a late-night host. He is still not the most famous basketball player alive.
Give him another ring and Hart will need a new line. The Knicks open October 20 against Philadelphia, which is now where LeBron plays, so the comparison is going to come up again sooner than Hart would like.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.