Can the New York Knicks win a title with Jalen Brunson as their best player?
Knicks die-hards will say yes, but they are likely to be blinded by sentimentality and fandom when they do.
Cooler heads will realize that New York's title hopes are doomed if they continue to build around a six-foot-one superstar.
The only two franchises who've ever reached or won the Finals with such a strategy featured two players in Isiah Thomas and Allen Iverson who were much more transcendent than Brunson, with all due respect.
In sum, the Knicks may have reached their ceiling as a Brunson-centric franchise.
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And while the next move for New York would in this case be to go out and get a Batman to Brunson's Robin, there is an alternative that will make Knicks fans gasp: trade Brunson right now, while his value is at its peak.
What would happen if the Knicks' front office called up the San Antonio Spurs and got a Brunson conversation started? Surely, San Antonio would be interested in turning De'Aaron Fox into Brunson, with all due respect to Fox.
The Knicks would then ask the Spurs if they'd hand over Fox and the No. 2 overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft for Brunson.
The Spurs would likely decline and then come back with another offer: Fox and the No. 14 pick.
Would this be a good idea for the Knicks?
It might be.
New York could be a really good team in 2025-26 with Fox running point instead of Brunson. Title contenders? No, but as noted above, the Knicks aren't going to get there with Brunson, anyway.
Fox is on an expiring contract, so the Knicks wouldn't be tied to him past next season. In fact, they'd be freed up financially to experiment with re-tooling as early as this summer. New York could toy with packaging the No. 14 they receive from San Antonio with another player (Karl-Anthony Towns?) to move up into the top five or six picks, potentially snagging their next franchise centerpiece!
If you think Brunson can lead a team to a title as the best player, disregard all of this.
But if you're willing to think outside the box, you'll realize that now is an opportune time for the Knicks to trade Brunson and build something new.
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