Maybe Jalen Brunson should wear his Jalen Hurts jersey in the Knicks’ parade. They’ve traveled the same road
The two-time NCAA champ at Villanova and rabid Eagles fan said he was "absolutely" inspired by Hurts' Super Bowl win. They both dropped in the draft. Now, they've both got rings and championship MVPs.
At 10 a.m. Thursday, Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson will ride up Broadway through Manhattan’s “Canyon of Heroes,” showered with the same sort of ticker tape that fell upon Teddy Roosevelt, John Glenn, and Queen Elizabeth II.
If Brunson has any sense of loyalty, he’ll wear his Jalen Hurts jersey. He’s done it before.
Why not? After all, Brunson and Hurts are essentially the same guy. Soft-spoken leaders. Tireless workers. Kind-hearted humans.
And, after the Knicks’ five-game series win over the Spurs in the NBA Finals on Saturday, they are both unlikely champions.
On Jan. 18, 2023, three nights before the Eagles hosted the Giants in a wild-card playoff game, Brunson entered Madison Square Garden wearing a midnight green Eagles jersey with the No. “1″ on the front.
It read, “Hurts” on the back.
The athlete whose mirror image Brunson has become.
As they left college and began their pro careers, experts measured everything about them — everything, that is, except grit, determination, work ethic, and heart. That didn’t seem to matter.
What mattered was that Brunson was too short, too slow, didn’t shoot well enough, couldn’t defend. What mattered was that Hurts was too short, his arm was too weak, he couldn’t run a prostyle offense, he’d never won the Big Game.
Marcus Hayes alerts
Sure, they won as amateurs. But on the pro stage? Bah. These guys weren’t going to win anything.
Now, they can compare rings.
Roots
Brunson went to high school about an hour north of Chicago but he spent his preteen years in South Jersey. Naturally, he developed a passion for the Eagles.
When he wore the Hurts jersey to MSG three years ago he was trolling the New York fans as much as he was supporting the Birds. Brunson, a social media virtuoso with a mischievous personality, delights in this sort of subtle jousting.
Brunson also is an unlikely NBA success story, in the manner and mold of Hurts.
Both were viewed as athletes who likely had reached their peak in college. Neither was considered a viable option to lead a team to a title.
Who could know that, 3½ weeks after Brunson wore his jersey, Hurts would fall just three points short of winning Super Bowl LVII? Who could know that, two years later, Hurts would win Super Bowl LIX and the game’s Most Valuable Player award?
Did that inspire Brunson?
“Absolutely,” he told the New York Post after the Eagles beat the Chiefs for the Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl LIX. “Obviously, all the criticism about Jalen Hurts and him not being a champ. And he’s said the whole time that he doesn’t care about anything individual. He just wants to win. So I commend him for that.”
Who could know that, 3½ years after Brunson wore Hurts’ jersey, that Brunson would lead the Knicks to their first NBA championship in 53 years? Who could know that he would score 45 points in a Finals closeout game, tied with Michael Jordan for third-most all time?
Nobody. That’s who. That’s why their parallel ascent to the top of their games thrills and warms your heart.
» READ MORE: Don’t get it twisted: A.J. Brown, like Carson Wentz, betrayed Philadelphia and his Eagles teammates
Winner, Part 1
Brunson was a two-time NCAA Tournament champion at Villanova who, as a junior, swept player of the year awards in 2018, after which he declared for the draft. Mistake? He wasn’t drafted until the second round, the 33rd overall pick, by the Mavericks, who, in 2022, let him escape to the Knicks via free agency. (Don’t give the Knicks a pass: In 2018, they drafted Kentucky bust Kevin Knox 24 slots ahead of Brunson).
The 2018 draft was remarkably fruitful. It produced two-time reigning NBA MVP Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, who also won an NBA title last year. It produced six-time All-Star and two-time scoring champion Luka Dončić, for whom the Mavericks traded Trae Young and a first-round pick on draft night (then, insanely, traded again, to the Lakers, last year).
Luka went third in the draft. SGA went 11th.
However, eight years later, Brunson carries the greatest value of anyone in that draft. For that matter, Brunson is the greatest 33rd pick in league history.
Hurts might be the best 53rd pick in NFL history.
Winner, Part 2
Like Brunson, Hurts wins like he breathes.
He helped win a national title at Alabama as a sophomore starter but lost his starting job. After a final season with the Crimson Tide and early graduation, Hurts transferred to Oklahoma, where he led the Sooners to the four-team College Football Playoff and finished second in Heisman Trophy voting. Still, like Brunson, Hurts didn’t fit the NFL quarterback mold and fell to the Eagles in the second round, a team that announced they considered him a long-term solution as Carson Wentz’s backup. By the end of his rookie season, Hurts had stolen Wentz’s job.
Hurts might not be the best second-round player in NFL in history, considering Brett Favre and Larry Allen were second-rounders. In this moment, he might not be the best 53rd overall pick; wideout Davante Adams went 53rd in 2014.
» READ MORE: A ‘proud’ Jay Wright revels in the success of his former Villanova pupils with the ’Nova Knicks
But Hurts is, inarguably, the best value in the 2020 draft. That included Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, CeeDee Lamb, and Justin Jefferson.
Those guys have two things in common:
They all were drafted at least 31 picks ahead of Hurts.
And none of those guys have rings.
Winner, Part 3
Brunson articulated the core trait that drives both of the Jalens when he said Hurts “just wants to win.”
Indeed, Hurts’ most consistent motto, often recited after ugly wins in which the Eagles’ passing game sputters, is: “Keep the main thing the main thing.”
This is how badly Brunson wants to win:
He left more than $100 million on the table when he signed a contract extension in 2024 instead of 2025, money that allowed the Knicks to pursue starters OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns, Brunson’s chief wingmen in the Finals against the Spurs.
Brunson can recoup some of that money in his next deal, but he risked injury for two years on a lesser contract, all so he could win.
Mission accomplished.
Reality check
No matter how deep his love for Philly’s football team, and no matter how strong his admiration for Hurts, there’s no chance that Brunson on Thursday will recognize the kinship with the man who shares his name. After all, Brunson’s Knicks and their fans swept the Sixers out of the playoffs and swept team president Daryl Morey out of his job.
But no matter what Brunson wears Thursday morning as he rides down Broadway, he and Hurts will forever be linked as storybook athletes who bucked the measurables, ignored the analytics, and, in their quiet, determined way, put two big-shoulder cities on their own broad shoulders, quieted their critics, and walked away as ultimate winners.
