{"id":38016,"date":"2026-08-11T05:39:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T00:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=38016"},"modified":"2026-08-11T05:39:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T00:39:05","slug":"jalen-brunson-tells-the-post-why-knicks-championship-wont-define-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=38016","title":{"rendered":"Jalen Brunson tells The Post why Knicks championship won&#8217;t define him"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2Fnewspress-collage-hxxcncngs-1786405178454.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261786390837\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>He\u2019s the same Jalen Brunson as before.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Not even leading the Knicks to an NBA championship, and winning a Finals MVP along the way, will change how Brunson looks at himself \u2014 and how he wants others to view him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHasn\u2019t,\u201d Brunson exclusively told The Post\u2019s \u201cNew York Got Game\u201d show while speaking at his \u201cJalen Brunson Charity Golf Classic\u201d benefiting his \u201cSecond Round Foundation\u201d at Westchester Country Club on Monday. \u201cThat wouldn\u2019t do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will be the same. It\u2019s something that I get to walk around with and think about when I\u2019m \u2014 when I need to give myself a little confidence, or whatever, just in certain situations. But my approach and everything has to be the same. Just because I\u2019ve reached the mountaintop of winning an NBA championship doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s over with. I feel like there\u2019s still a lot more to do and a lot more that I can prove. It\u2019s 100 percent always going to be in the mind, I\u2019m just not going to let it define me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Jalen Brunson holds the Larry O\u2019Brien trophy during the Knicks\u2019 championship parade on June 18, 2026.  <span class=\"credit\">Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Four years after signing with the Knicks, Brunson has emerged as one of New York\u2019s biggest legends \u2014 across all sports \u2014 this generation after powering the team to its first title since 1973.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And the Knicks are returning pretty much their entire core from last year, with the only significant departure being Mitchell Robinson. It only makes Brunson hungrier for even more success.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJalen is the ultimate worker,\u201d Brunson\u2019s mother, Sandra, told The Post. \u201cI felt like, while in the moment we celebrated, moments after, days after, but I could see from my perspective that he was like, \u2018OK, next. What\u2019s next?\u2019 Because he\u2019s not satisfied. Reaching the pinnacle or the mountaintop is great. But his career is still, he\u2019s still thriving in his career and it\u2019s still on an uptick. I think that he\u2019s like, \u2018What\u2019s the next challenge? What\u2019s the next hurdle?\u2019 I saw that in him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone sees him as a very focused and disciplined individual while he\u2019s on the court. Off the court, he allowed himself the time to absorb the love and the attention and the appreciation that was felt from the championship, but I think in the back of his mind, he\u2019s just like, \u2018OK, what\u2019s the next thing?\u2019 I think he\u2019s the type of person that when his career is over, he\u2019ll look back and appreciate everything that he and his teammates have accomplished, but while in the moment, I think he\u2019s already thinking, \u2018How can I get better?\u2019 \u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Jalen Brunson (R.) and his mother, Sandra, speak with The Post on Aug. 10 2026.  <span class=\"credit\">Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That doesn\u2019t mean Brunson didn\u2019t appreciate the moment and the accomplishment, though. Now a few months removed, he reflected on what it felt like to win a championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Was it like what he thought it would be?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes and no,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cI kind of understood what the feeling would be like. In the moment of it happening, I understood what that would be like \u2014 I knew I\u2019d be emotional. Just everything after that is what I wasn\u2019t expecting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This summer\u2019s been \u201ca lot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Knicks guard Jalen Brunson and his mom Sandra Brunson are interviewed by Dexter Henry for the New York Post at the Westchester Country Club where Brunson was holding his Annual Charity Golf Event on Monday, August 10, 2026.vido <span class=\"credit\">Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cObviously there\u2019s a lot of obligations you have to do,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cA lot of things that have already [been] structured into your calendar, a lot of things added in. So there have been a lot of things like that, but still been trying to make time for my family, still make time for my main job.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Even with all of that, however, Brunson is steadfast that \u201cnothing\u2019s really changed for me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Knicks fans can expect to see the same Brunson when next season rolls around. The only difference is that there are new goals to chase.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He\u2019s the same Jalen Brunson as before.\u00a0 Not even leading the Knicks to an NBA championship, and winning a Finals MVP along the way, will change how Brunson looks at himself \u2014 and how he wants others to view him.\u00a0 \u201cHasn\u2019t,\u201d Brunson exclusively told The Post\u2019s \u201cNew York Got Game\u201d show while speaking at his&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/newspress-collage-hxxcncngs-1786405178454.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1786390837&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}