There’s a buzz in Manhattan entering this NBA season. The New York Knicks are coming off of a 50-win season that included a run to the Eastern Conference Semifinals, where they fell in seven games to the Indiana Pacers. Now, the team has legitimate aspirations of competing for a championship during the 2024-25 campaign, in large part due to the player who makes things go for them: Jalen Brunson.
After blossoming as a member of the Dallas Mavericks, Brunson famously joined the Knicks as a free agent during the 2022 offseason. He’s done nothing but get better during his time with the team, and last year, that included his first All-Star nod and an All-NBA Second Team selection. Injuries limited him down the stretch of the series against the Pacers — he left Game 7 with a hand fracture — but as the new season rolls around, Brunson is expected to lead the Knicks to heights they haven’t reached in quite some time.
It should help that the team was ultra-aggressive over the summer. While they lost a key cog in Isaiah Hartenstein via free agency, Brunson signed a new deal at below market value. OG Anunoby, their prized trade deadline acquisition last year, signed a lucrative contract extension. The team swung for the fences in the trade market, as they acquired Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns. The Eastern Conference runs through Boston this year, but there’s a clear belief among the Knicks faithful that New York can challenge the defending champions with Brunson at the helm and the roster around him.
In the lead-up to the new season, DIME caught up with Brunson as part of his new sponsorship deal with BodyArmor, where we discussed the partnership, the vibes ahead of this season, adding another former Villanova standout to the team, that time he hopped in the ring with Tyrese Haliburton on Friday Night SmackDown at Madison Square Garden, and much more.
(Ed. note — the interview was conducted before the Knicks acquired Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves.)
What do you have going on with BodyArmor?
BodyArmor and I came to an agreement, and being partners now going forward is really important for me. My body, obviously, staying hydrated has been important in the offseason. So, I’m just excited — BodyArmor is real, and I think we share the very same values when it comes to being real. They’re real hydration, real flavors, real ingredients, I think it’s very authentic.
Why was linking up with them the right move for you?
Because I believe that I’m starting to understand more and more about, like, what goes into a player’s body and how it’s important for you and your success, and your health. Not necessarily when you’re playing, but like, those days when you’re supposed to be recovering. Like, how fast can you recover? And so, I think BodyArmor has helped me, and we have that ability to continue to recover faster and just be real.
Season is right around the corner, just generally, how are the vibes around the team?
Vibes are gonna be good. I really think that we’re gonna be kicking off with good chemistry once training camp starts, and then, yeah, we’ll just take it one day at a time, just as we have been. Can’t look too far ahead, that’s just not one thing that we want to do. As long as we continue to take one day at a time, I think we’re gonna be right.
Have you gotten a chance to play, get a few offseason runs in with you and Mikal and Josh and Donte, or do you guys just trust that once you get on the floor, you’re going to be able to find that chemistry pretty quickly?
Both, we’ve been on the court together, we’ve talked about things, but everything becomes real once training camp starts. And so we’re really excited about the opportunity again, and can’t wait to see.
There’s obviously that famous clip of you, I think it was at a Villanova game, celebrating when the Knicks got Josh. Did you have a similar reaction when the Mikal trade happened?
Very similar, it was very similar. I was at dinner, and I was actually with people with my foundation. We were doing a camp at my high school. And afterwards, we’re at dinner, and then, yeah, had a very similar reaction. It was really cool, I’m really excited.
It’s interesting, because I think obviously, for all the Nova stuff that gets focused on, the team isn’t going out and trading for Mikal unless they think he’s getting you guys closer to a championship. In your eyes, how does Mikal help you guys take that next step towards becoming champions?
I think for us, Mikal, I said this a long time ago: He can be a perfect piece to any puzzle. And so, I think us, obviously, being here and going to school together, it definitely gets a little bit blown out of proportion. But he’s a player that will come and then do whatever it takes to win. And so, he’s always been that person, and the way he’s just worked on his game non-stop since the day I met him, and he’s put himself in the position where people think that highly of him. It’s definitely the step in the right direction for us. And we just, like I said before, we’re gonna have to go out there and see when things become real.
Where’s the biggest way that you’ve seen — obviously, you’ve seen him dating back to when he first stepped on campus at Villanova, but even over the course of his NBA career, the biggest way where you’ve seen him develop as a basketball player in the time that you’ve known him?
My biggest takeaway from Mikal is just watching his work ethic grow. Not saying that he didn’t work hard before, but you just see how much he cares about his craft and how much he cares about being a better basketball player every single day. He’s another person that really takes the time to make sure his mind and body is right every single night. And so, when you have a player like that who consistently drives himself to be better, he can help any team. And I’m just thankful he’s with us.
The same question for you. It’s your third year in New York, you’re at a point where you’ve established yourself as an All-Star, as an MVP candidate, all these things. What’s the biggest way that you have grown, either on or off the basketball court, during your time as a Knick?
I mean, on and off the court, I think I’m growing as a player, as a person. Obviously, every single year, I’m trying to get better and better, trying to help my team win, just trying to help and do my part and on the court. But I think the best part about everything is that the one thing that stayed the same is my consistency, like how I’ve been as a person, how I’ve been as a player, how I workout, everything. I think that’s my biggest takeaway about just my time being in the league and in New York, I’m like the same person. I don’t think anything’s really got to my head. I don’t think I think highly of myself, I think the same way I did before. And just trying to stay as humble I can, and continue to work as hard as I can.
One thing that interests me so much about your game is your ability to get to the spot that you want and get off a shot cleanly. When in a possession do you decide where you want to get to? Is it right away? Is it once you see where the defense is set? Or is it one of those things where you kind of just go with the flow, see what happens, and let that dictate where you’re trying to get to?
It’s a mixture of all those. Sometimes you have to go, and sometimes you kind of want to wait and see what’s happening, and then all of a sudden, something happens during the game, and you have to react, you have to change your thought process, and you’re basically just reacting. And so, I think when it comes to working on my game every summer, I’m doing all these things to make sure that, when it comes to make a sudden change or react to something, I’m able to do it. And so, yeah, it’s never the perfect answer or the right time and place to do things. You just, things happen and go back to your habits.
Is that a matter of the work you put in on the court, watching film, whatever? Or is that just a matter of you have to have a natural feel of how to do that sort of thing in order to do it successfully?
I think it comes from work ethic. The more you work at it, the more you understand it, the more natural it becomes for you. I think me working on it, it made it natural. Some people, I think, just have that in their in their game, but I think I worked for it, and it’s paid off.
I’m interested in the center spot for you guys. Isaiah is in Oklahoma City now, Mitch working his way back, and as a result, Precious and Jericho are in line to play a ton of basketball. What is it about the two of them — how they know your system, the way that they play, whatever it might be — that gives you confidence that you guys are going to be really strong at the five with Precious Achiuwa and Jericho Sims?
Yeah, I think the one thing about our team that is understood, it’s always a next man mentality, no matter what the situation is, no matter who’s out there, we always have our teammate’s back. There are never moments where like, Oh man, this person’s hurt, like, what are we going to do? It’s like, alright, now let’s step up now together. It’s never going to be one person just picking up the slack as the five guys are out there making sure we’re on the same page. Obviously I’m happy for Isaiah and him getting a contract, and obviously we’re going to miss him. Mitch, I think he’s going to continue to work his way back, but it’s like I said, it’s always a next man mentality, and that’s just how we are, that’s who we are — honestly, as long as Thibs is here, that’s not changing.
What’s a louder pop that you’ve gotten at Madison Square Garden: Literally anything with the Knicks, or when you grabbed a steel chair and hopped into the ring on SmackDown?
Honestly, when I grabbed the steel chair, it was really cool. It was really, it was really cool. I guess I’m used to it when it comes to basketball, because I’m comfortable out there. It was a totally different type of adrenaline rush. And it was, it was unbelievable. I’m just happy for that opportunity, I was like a little kid again. It was so cool, I can’t lie.
I actually went back and watched it, and I was stunned at how you and Tyrese kept straight faces the entire time. Did you guys get into the back and just bust out laughing or anything?
We talked about it. It was, I think we were both just like, it was just a great experience. I think we were more shocked about how, like, how loud the pop was and everything. To go out there and do what we did, even though it was very minimal, it wasn’t anything crazy. But it was, man, it was awesome. I can’t lie.
WWE is on fire right now, what is your favorite thing going on in professional wrestling at the moment?
Happy Roman’s back.
Yes, definitely.
I’m definitely happy Roman’s back. It’s not just one thing. I think just the momentum that everything has, I feel like they’re on top of the world more than they’ve ever been. The way it’s grown, and the way it kind of is resurging, it’s been really cool to see. And so, I’ve definitely paid a lot more attention with these past couple years than I did when I was even younger. It’s awesome.
This interview has been lightly edited for content and clarity.
