Not many players in the history of the NBA have gotten compliments from LeBron James as Jalen Brunson has recently. The four-time NBA champion is known to be careful in making comparisons, but the latest comparison by him put Brunson among legends.

In the latest episode of the "Mind The Game" podcast show by LeBron James, the star explained in detail why playing against a dominant left-hander poses challenges for defenses.

"He's a lefty," James said. "90% of our league, 95% of our league are righties. The lefties that are dynamic in our league, it's sometimes just hard to kind of get a cadence of that. Manu Ginobili, James Harden, and now Jalen Brunson. It's a different feel when a guy is coming at you lefty."

This analogy makes a lot of sense when you look at the statistics. Ginobili had an amazing career coming off the bench, averaging 13.3 points, 3.8 assists, and 3.5 rebounds while winning four championships with the San Antonio Spurs.

On the other hand, Harden was everything that Ginobili was not by being a high usage MVP averaging 24.1 points, 7.1 assists, and 5.6 rebounds.

Brunson is now a part of that same discussion, and his most recent string of games is precisely why. In Game 5 of the championship series against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs on June 14, 2026, the Knicks’ leader put up 45 points and won the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP unanimously.

In that five-game series, Brunson averaged 32.6 points while averaging 9.9 points per game in the fourth quarter during his entire playoff run.

This crucial contribution, along with his contract being team-friendly, which allowed New York to develop around him, was responsible for breaking their 53-year-old championship curse.

Though the contracts and the fourth quarter points give an account of how Brunson took the Knicks to the top, there is another aspect of the story that can be told from how Brunson responded to his long-time critics.

Jalen Brunson Has No Time For The Doubters

Brunson has been sceptical about almost every point of his life and, despite the championship title he just won, he has made it clear through his appearance in the parade on Thursday that he has no business with them.

"There's a lot of people that have a lot of negative stuff to say. There's a lot of people who have a lot of opinions," Brunson said during Thursday's championship parade through Manhattan. "But when you prove them wrong, you don't have to say s--t to them. They don't deserve it."

Size was definitely the biggest concern, with Aces coach Becky Hammon saying the Knicks did not have a real "1A dude" at some point.

These concerns have been around for quite some time now. Brunson was the player who helped his college team win two national titles and win the National Player of the Year award. Now he has become a consistent All-Star and is also an NBA champion. Brunson definitely answered this question himself by scoring 45 points in the fifth game of the Finals.

Do you think Brunson has finally silenced his doubters for good? Comment down your thoughts.

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Written by

Utsav Gupta

Edited by

Utsav Gupta