{"id":182270,"date":"2025-08-28T11:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T11:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/182270\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T11:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T11:15:09","slug":"new-york-knicks-star-considered-best-pick-from-draft-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/182270\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Knicks Star Considered Best Pick From Draft Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jalen Brunson<\/a>‘s status as the best player from the 2018 NBA Draft<\/a> is still something of a long shot, but where he was selected compared to the value he’d end up providing has given him a much more compelling case as the most valuable of his classmates. <\/p>\n

CBS Sports certainly wanted to show the former Dallas Mavericks prospect-turned-New York Knicks <\/a>star some love in this category, considering him as 2018’s best pick in running through the most valuable selections of every year in the latest edition of their pieces commemorating the first quarter of the NBA’s 21st century.<\/p>\n

He shared the evening with several of the NBA’s best point guards of the future, with Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Trae Young each included in his class, albeit with much less fanfare than the various lottery-selected prospects. Even as some of Brunson’s peers have exceeded him in peak value and longevity across their equally-short careers, he still has his development story over the All-Stars.<\/p>\n

“For most of their careers, Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/a> vs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> would have played out similarly to Mitchell vs. Tatum,” Sam Quinn wrote<\/a>. “The higher pick was clearly better, but the lower pick was close enough to make it a debate. Now that Gilgeous-Alexander has won an MVP and a championship, there’s not really a pick-value debate between he and Don\u010di\u0107 anymore. <\/p>\n

“The difference between 2017 and 2018, though, is that 2017 didn’t produce a second-round pick that’s nearly at their level. Jalen Brunson has grown into a consistent All-NBA pick from the No. 33 slot. As impressive as Gilgeous-Alexander winning MVP from No. 11 is, that 20-pick gap is just too great to ignore.”<\/p>\n

Brunson, once the significantly-less exciting 2018 Dallas prospect alongside former teammate Don\u010di\u0107, slowly elevated into a reliable scoring guard before walking to the Knicks in free agency, where he nearly-immediately flexed his shooting muscles in a less-constricting role. He’s been listed on the MVP ballot <\/a>in each of his three seasons with his new team, leading the Knicks<\/a> as far as the Eastern Conference Finals in 2025 in the seventh playoff series he’s played in New York.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

Dec 3, 2022; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) controls the ball against Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) during the third quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images \/ Brad Penner-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

A quick stroll through the win shares statistic, a measure computed by basketball-reference.com meant to estimate the number of wins a player’s contributions can be equated to, reveals how miraculous of a job Brunson’s done in closing the gap against some of his similarly-drafted peers. <\/p>\n

He’s behind just Don\u010di\u0107 and Gilgeous-Alexander, arguably the two most impressive 27-and-under players in the NBA, with 45.5 wins to his name. He’s passed Young, who’s had an Atlanta Hawks team directly catered to his offensive play style since he stepped foot into the league, as well as multiple-time teammate Mikal Bridges<\/a>, who’s never missed a game in the pros.<\/p>\n

Brunson still has some work to do<\/a> in proving his worth above some of the best in the game, but his unprecedented rise from pick No. 33 in a top-echelon player gives him a piece of his identity he’ll never have to defend.<\/p>\n

Make sure you bookmark Knicks on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jalen Brunson‘s status as the best player from the 2018 NBA Draft is still something of a long…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":182271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[1260,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-182270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115106108115408258","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}