Jalen Brunson is your 2026 NBA Finals MVP. He earned it the hard way.
The Knicks point guard dropped a Finals record 45 points in Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, leading New York to a 94-90 win over the San Antonio Spurs that sealed the franchise’s first NBA championship since 1973. Brunson was awarded the Bill Russell Trophy after the buzzer, which somehow felt both inevitable and overdue.
Let’s start with the 45. He scored from everywhere. He hit step-back threes over Devin Vassell. He drove the lane and finished over Victor Wembanyama. He got to the line nine times. He had stretches in the third quarter when it felt like every shot he took was going down, because every shot he took was going down.
The Finals MVP vote was not particularly close. Brunson averaged just under 30 a game in the series. He shot 47 percent from the floor against a defense that knew he was the focal point of every set the Knicks ran. He took care of the ball. He defended his position. He played the most minutes of any starter on either team.
This is the part of the conversation that should make Knicks fans emotional. Brunson came to New York in 2022 on a contract that was widely panned as an overpay. The numbers were 104 million over four years. People said the Knicks were buying loyalty because his father had played for the franchise. They said he was not a true number one. They said he was too short, too slow, too dependent on tricks to score.
Four seasons later, he just won a championship and a Finals MVP. He did it as the unquestioned best player on a team that finished the regular season with 56 wins. He did it in a series that ran through Victor Wembanyama, the consensus best young player in the league. He did it with an extended family of teammates, coaches, and fans who believed in him long before anyone outside of New York did.
The cultural impact is hard to overstate. Brunson is a 6-2 point guard who plays with footwork and patience. He is not a high flyer. He is not a TikTok highlight maker. He is a guy who studies film, gets to his spots, and refuses to lose. Every kid in New York who has been told they were too small or too slow just watched a 6-2 guard take down the league.
His Game 5 performance now sits alongside the great Finals closeout games in league history. Michael Jordan with 55 in 1996. LeBron James with 41 in Game 7 of 2016. Stephen Curry with 34 in Game 6 of 2022. Add Brunson’s 45. He earned the company.
What comes next is a parade on Sunday, an offseason for the Knicks to figure out how to extend Brunson on a max deal that he will probably take at a discount, and a 2026-27 season where New York opens as the early favorite to repeat. Brunson made all of that possible. The Bill Russell Trophy is going home with him.
You can argue Knicks history forever. You cannot argue what just happened. Jalen Brunson is a Finals MVP. He is also already a legend.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
