For the past few years Knicks fan had been referring to Jalen Brunson as “The King of New York” as he brought back life and excitement to New York basketball, but once he and the Knicks finally won the NBA Championship this past June, the entire city co-signed that particular moniker.
Jalen Brunson though? Not so much.
During a recent appearance on the Road Trippin’ podcast, Jalen “Big Body” Brunson addressed the nickname bestowed on him by his fellow New Yorkers and interestingly enough had no interest in accepting the title. Speaking to the show’s hosts, Kendrick Perkins, Richard Jefferson and former Knick, Channing Frye, “King” Brunson bluntly stated that he had no interest in referring to himself as the “King of New York” and would never refer to himself as that regardless to whom or what.
“I’ve never called myself the king of New York. I will never call myself the king of New York. Imagine I get on this call with you, right? I’m like, ‘Yo, no king of New York’s here,’ whatever, whatever. You guys are going to look like, ‘What the fuck, this dude is so self-centered.’”
We understand, your Grace (Game of Thrones reference).
Still, he can’t stop New Yorkers from referring to him as the King of the Big Apple as he turned a struggling Knicks franchise into an NBA Championship team just four years after signing with the team and humbling saying he wasn’t a “savior.” To be fair, no one thought he was, but as it turned out, he was. So much so that fans were highly upset that he wasn’t the cover athlete to NBA 2K7 (he should’ve been) and Knicks fans are still calling for his signature sneaker line (damnit, Nike!).
While everyone outside of the Knicks fanbase continue to hate on Brunson and cast aspersions on him and the Knicks, no one can dispute the fact that the man averaged 32.6 points in the NBA Finals and put down 45 points in Game 5 to close out the series. The first man to achieve such a feat since the almighty Michael Jordan in Game 6 of the NBA Finals in 1998.
Still, his highness is hungry for more and his squad is already preparing for the next season by putting the previous year behind them saying, “We don’t want to speak of the trophy, we don’t talk about the trophy, we don’t want to see the trophy. We want to come in with the same mindset, if not, even a tougher mindset than we had last year.”
That’s what a King sounds like. Just sayin.’
Check out the full interview below and let us know if you think Jalen Brunson is the King of New York in your eyes in the comments section below.
