Jalen Brunson’s 2026 championship run with the New York Knicks pushed him into the spotlight at the exact moment ESPN’s NBA Rank 2026 tried to project what comes next. The result: a No. 6 placement that sounded bold on its face, and then drew a sharp pushback from ESPN’s own analytics side.
Dean Oliver, ESPN’s analytics guru, went through the network’s top 100 and flagged Brunson as one of four selections the experts missed. His case was blunt: the Finals version of Brunson may be clouding the picture for what the regular season should look like in 2026-27.
“Our last view of Brunson is him carrying the Knicks to a fourth-quarter comeback in Game 5 of the NBA Finals,” Oliver wrote. “He was tremendous in New York’s run to the championship - but that leads to the bias that he will maintain it. He was Finals MVP, but will he really finish the season as the league’s sixth-best player?
“Brunson has always been limited a bit by his size (6-foot-2, 190 pounds) and his defense, something the metrics perhaps see and remember more than the seven panelists remember the late buckets he poured in to win the Finals,” Oliver continued. “Those problems are likely to persist.
“I love Brunson’s game, but his lofty ranking benefitted not only from recent bias but also from the New York media bias,” Oliver added. “(That bias might also help you forget that Brunson missed the shot in the most iconic image from the Finals, when OG Anunoby swooped in for the putback game-winner to clinch Game 4.)
The metrics place Brunson around the No. 25 range heading into the season. That’s not a huge gap.
He’s elite, just not No. 6 - at least not during the regular season.”
That No. 25 line is the one that really jumps off the page. Brunson, after all, just won Finals MVP when the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs in five games. On paper, the idea of him landing that far down the board feels hard to square with what he actually did.
Take the postseason away, though, and the regular-season numbers still show a player operating at a high level. In 2025-26, the 30-year-old averaged 26.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game for New York. He was an All-Star and earned All-NBA Second Team honors for the third straight year.
That résumé is why Brunson is widely viewed as a top-10 player, even with the obvious knocks on his game. He is a smaller guard, he is not a great defender, and he can be inefficient at times. Still, the idea that he belongs closer to 25th than sixth is a steep drop.
There’s also a playoff record now that stretches well beyond one hot series. Brunson has averaged 29.4 points and 6.6 assists per game in the playoffs during his Knicks career across 61 appearances. That kind of sample size makes it tough to wave away what he has done when the games matter most.
Oliver, who worked as an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards from 2019 to 2023, leaned on the numbers to make his point. As he put it: “People see the game better than numbers, but numbers see all the games.”
Not everyone is underselling Brunson, either. The Ringer’s Max Kellerman has gone the other direction and said Brunson is more valuable than Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Brunson is certainly a force, but Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning two-time MVP, remains ahead of him.
In Other News...
Knicks Draft Regret Looks Even Worse With Dadiet Now Stuck
Pacome Dadiets place on the Knicks roster has become more complicated than it looked on draft night, and the concern now is less about what he might become than what it might cost to move him. New York has reportedly seen his trade value dip enough that any deal could require draft compensation, a reminder that second-round swings are not just about upside but about how much flexibility they leave a team later on.
That reality only sharpens the debate around last years draft board, where several players taken in the same range have already looked like cleaner fits. Kyshawn George, Terrence Shannon Jr., Ajay Mitchell, Jaylen Wells and Oso Ighodaro all came off the board around Dadiet, and each name makes the Knicks decision look a little heavier in retrospect, especially with salary structure and roster space now part of the equation. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Hart Just Made His Knicks Contract Situation More Interesting
Josh Harts contract status came up at Knicks Media Day, and it was easy to understand why he wanted to address it now rather than let it linger. Entering a season where the roster expects to contend, Hart said he would prefer to have clarity before the 2026-27 campaign begins, a sensible stance for a player who has become a key part of New Yorks rotation and identity.
The bigger issue is less about the paperwork than the possible distraction if negotiations drag on. Hart acknowledged the kind of uncertainty that can creep in when extension talks remain open, and he made clear he does not want the situation hanging over the team for long. For the Knicks, it is another reminder that even in a focused locker room, contract questions can quickly become part of the conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Brunsons Knicks Reaction Made This Celtics Departure Feel Personal
Jalen Brunson has spent the early part of the Knicks summer acknowledging how much Mitchell Robinson meant to the group that reached the championship stage, while also turning the page toward what comes next. Robinsons departure leaves a real void in New Yorks frontcourt, and it is the kind of move that changes both the on-court rotation and the emotional feel of a locker room that had leaned on his presence.
Andre Drummond is now part of that answer, and Brunson sounded encouraged by what the veteran can bring to the mix. The Knicks do not have to wait long for the first test of the transition, either, with early-season matchups looming against the 76ers and Celtics, giving Drummond an immediate chance to settle in and see how New Yorks reshaped big-man group holds up against familiar competition. [Read more 🡒]