New York Knicks Mike Vaccaro Jalen Brunson is stacking up Jeterian credentials — with one last puzzle piece nearing his grasp By Mike Vaccaro Published May 20, 2026, 7:17 p.m. ET Knicks Jalen Brunson puts up a shot past the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first half of Game 1. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST The parallels have been striking for a while, but the more years Jalen Brunson plays as a Knick, the more games in which he shines, like his dominant performance in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals Tuesday night, the starker the comp becomes. Brunson already exists in a rarefied stratosphere of New York sports.
But there’s something else, too, a connection that becomes more complete the longer he works in our world, the more chapters to this growing legacy of excellence he authors. Brunson is more than just the co-king of New York alongside Aaron Judge, the chasm between those two and any other athlete wider now than it’s ever been.
