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 performance against the Mavericks, while Bill Walton carried the Trail Blazers to the 1977 championship.
Simmons said Brunson’s case was built not only on production, but on how often he delivered under pressure.
“He was the guy over and over again who could create the best offense for them, and he got better when it mattered,” Simmons said.
Brunson’s workload also stood out to Simmons, who noted that the Knicks guard played heavy minutes despite giving up size to many of the players around him.
“He never got tired,” Simmons said. “As a small guy, the stuff that he did was inconceivable.”
The performance that appeared to push Simmons over the edge was Game 5, when Brunson’s 45 points finished off the series and secured the title.
“The more I look at it and stare at it, I think it is one of the great Finals games,” Simmons said.
Simmons said he now has Brunson ranked No. 40 on his all-time list, placing him above several Hall of Fame-level names, including Nash, Kidd, Sam Jones and George Gervin.
He also acknowledged how unlikely that would have sounded earlier in Brunson’s career.
Brunson was a second-round pick, became a key piece with the Mavericks and then took another leap after signing with the Knicks. What once looked like a strong free-agent addition turned into the foundation of a championship team.
“He is somebody that I never in a million years would have thought would make the pyramid,” Simmons said.
After the Knicks’ title run, Simmons no longer sees that as a debate.
Brunson, in his view, has moved from star guard to all-time company.