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Fresh off a season-high 47 points and winning the 2025 NBA Cup MVP, New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson earned another award from the league.
Jalen Brunson helped bring a title to New York, and though it wasn’t the coveted NBA Finals fans were hoping for, winning the 2025 NBA Cup signaled that this team is ready to win the league title.
Now, after leading the Knicks to the NBA Cup, the league announced more big news on the franchise star. Most recently, Brunson earned the Player of the Week award for the Eastern Conference.
“New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson and Memphis Grizzlies forward-center Jaren Jackson Jr. have been named the NBA Players of the Week for Week 9 of the 2025-26 season,” the league wrote in a statement.
Jalen Brunson is Eastern Conference Player of the Week, per the NBA
Over the past week, Brunson led New York to a combined 2-1 record, while averaging 31.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and eight assists per game on 45% shooting. The league didn’t include the Knicks’ Cup Final win over the San Antonio Spurs because the contest doesn’t count on their official record, but he finished that game with 25 points, four rebounds, and eight assists, taking home the tournament MVP award.
Jalen Brunson Player of the Week
The past week featured some monster performances from Brunson, in which he helped lead the Knicks to wins over the Spurs, Indiana Pacers, and Miami Heat. They lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, and Brunson had a slight off-night, but that still shouldn’t overshadow his strong week as he led his team back into the second seed in the Eastern Conference standings.
After winning the NBA Cup, a game in which Brunson played well, but the Knicks saw outstanding performances from OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson, and Tyler Kolek, New York took on Indiana, the team that ended their season in the conference finals last year.
In the revenge game, Brunson dropped 25 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, and three steals, including a game-winning three-pointer with 4.4 seconds left to take a one-point lead.
A day later, Brunson put up 22 points, six rebounds, and nine assists on a poor 7/22 in a losing effort to the Sixers, outshined by Tyrese Maxey’s 30-ball.
Most recently, Brunson had a season-high 47 points on 15/26 shooting along with three rebounds and eight assists in New York’s Sunday contest against the Heat, his most ever in Madison Square Garden. Knicks head coach Mike Brown had previously said Brunson was ‘unguardable’ and the point guard’s performance against Miami vindicated his coach’s bold comments.
“That’s what MVPs are supposed to do,” Brown said after the win.
JALEN BRUNSON TONIGHT
47 POINTS
8 ASSISTS
0 TURNOVERS
15-26 FG
6-13 3P
New Garden career high🔥
Brunson has now won his ninth career Player of the Week award, his second this season for the Knicks. He is expected to miss the team’s next game against the Timberwolves with a minor ankle injury.
Knicks On A Roll After NBA Cup Win
If the Knicks going a combined 6-1 in the NBA Cup and winning the tournament in its third iteration wasn’t enough to prove themselves as true title contenders, their recent run should also signal that.
Besides their loss to the Sixers, New York has won each of its other past nine games, moving back up in the conference standings, sitting only behind the Detroit Pistons. As seen, Brunson remains at the top of his game under Brown’s new style, currently seventh in scoring at 29.1 points per game.
It’s hard not to mention Karl-Anthony Towns, who, despite a few poor performances here and there, has been relatively consistent at 21.6 points and 11.6 rebounds a night. He and the minimal yet impactful Robinson have been holding it down in the paint, helping the Knicks have the sixth-highest rebound percentage in the league.
Additionally, both wings in Anunoby and Mikal Bridges are arguably having the best seasons of their careers. Both are putting up at least 15 rebounds and four assists per game and have been the leading threats in New York’s defense.
After a slow start, Josh Hart is also playing some of the best basketball of his life, recently compared to Draymond Green, and filling up the stat sheet for the Knicks.
The starting five of Brunson, Hart, Bridges, Anunoby, and Towns, with Robinson, Miles McBride, and Jordan Clarkson coming off the bench, has been one of the best eight-man lineups in the league so far this season, and finally, for a prolonged stretch, the Knicks look and feel like title contenders.
Eli Gregorski is a sports journalist covering the NBA for Heavy Sports. He has years of sports writing experience covering the NBA, NFL, college football and basketball, international soccer, and Formula One. He graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he was the assistant sports editor for the award-winning CU Independent student publication. More about Eli Gregorski
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