NBA.com just put New York Knicks’ Jalen Brunson in no. 1 of its MVP rankings for the NBA Emirates Cup but for his coach Mike Brown, that’s not enough.
The Knicks are rolling and can potentially win their first trophy since 1973 after surviving the Orlando Magic in the pocket tournament. They will face the San Antonio Spurs who upset the Oklahoma City Thunder.
New York are currently on a five-game winning streak and huge part of this is Brunson who scored at least 25 points in those games. His best game was last Saturday when he put up 40 points to beat the Magic.
His performances, to Brown, is being overlooked. He believes the two-time All-Star should be in the MVP conversations.
“It’s beautiful to be able to see him do what he’s more than capable of doing on a national stage like this in an environment like this,” Brown said after the game.
“So that hopefully you guys as media and the fans out there can continue talking about him as an MVP of this league because that’s exactly what he is.”
Jalen Brunson got the wins to be there
One way to get to the conversation is to win games. Knicks got that too. This is why Brown is baffled by the lack of mention of his player’s name for the award despite them having a better record that other candidates.
“When you’re first or second in either conference, and you’re putting up the numbers that he’s putting up, his name’s got to be one of the first names coming out of somebody’s mouth.”
The latest MPV ladder got it right with the first four on the list. Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, make up the top two and their respective teams have better record than the Knicks. Up next is Luka Doncic whose Los Angeles Lakers are up by just one win against NY.
Cade Cunningham is Top 4 with Detroit Pistons owning no. 1 in the East. Jaylen Brown of East’s third best team Boston Celtics is no. 5.
As for Brunson, he is no. 6 in the ladder.
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