On Tuesday the New York Knicks announced that their All-Star point guard would be named the team’s next captain. Brunson is now the 36th captain in franchise history and the first one since the 2018-19 season. The last captains were Lance Thomas and Courtney Lee.
Although naming a team captain is no longer a big part of the sport, there are still some throughout the NBA. Other teams with captains are the Miami Heat with Bam Adebayo, the Hawks with Trae Young, and Giannis Antetokounmpo who has been team captain for the Milwaukee Bucks for years now.
Fellow Knicks players took to social media to congratulate their new captain. Forward Julius Rangle posted an image of him and Brunson writing, “Congrats cap, well deserved!!”. Josh Hart kept things simple, posting an image of him saluting the camera captioned “Captain @jalenbrunson”. Successful actor and die-hard Knicks fan Ben Stiller also posted a salute to honor Brunson’s promotion.
Brunson is coming off the best season of his career where he averaged, 28.7 points and 6.7 assists while shooting nearly 48% from the field. His historic season came to a disappointing end when he fractured his left hand in game seven of the Eastern Conference semi-final, a game the Knicks would wind up losing.
With that said, Brunson is not only the best player on the Knicks but their unquestioned leader. He is the personification of New York basketball and will be praised for it.
The Knicks will make things official this afternoon with a press conference on MSG Network at 2 p.m.