Jalen Brunson is a top-50 all-time NBA player after Knicks title: Bill Simmons

Bill Simmons believes Jalen Brunson’s championship run has changed the way he should be viewed historically.The Ringer founder said Brunson now belongs among the top 50 players in NBA history after leading the Knicks to their first championship since 1973, capped by a 45-point performance in New York’s Game 5 win over the Spurs.“I think he has to be one of the top 50 players of all time now,” Simmons said on “The Bill Simmons Podcast.”It is a major jump in reputation for Brunson, who arrived in New York as an undersized guard with playoff credibility but not the profile of a player expected to become the centerpiece of a championship team.That changed during the Knicks’ run.Brunson was repeatedly the player New York leaned on to create offense late in games, and his Game 5 performance helped close out a 94-90 win over San Antonio that delivered the franchise its first title in 53 years.Simmons said that kind of run puts Brunson in a different category, especially when compared with other great guards whose teams never quite reached the same stage with them as the clear lead option.“He did something a bunch of great guards were never able to do,” Simmons said.Simmons pointed to James Harden, Steve Nash, Chris Paul and Jason Kidd while making the argument.Harden reached the Finals early in his career with the Thunder, but never got there as the lead star of his own team.Nash won two MVP awards but never made the Finals.

Paul reached the Finals with the Suns in 2021 but lost to the Bucks, while Kidd lost twice in the Finals with the Nets before later winning a championship with the Mavericks.Simmons said Brunson’s ability to carry New York’s offense through the biggest moments put his run alongside some of the most memorable individual postseason pushes in league history.“What Brunson did was up there with Dwyane Wade in 2006,” Simmons said.“It was up there with Walton in ’77.”Wade led the Heat to the 2006 title with a dominant Finals ...