Through his first seven years in the NBA, Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks has transformed into one of the top point guards in the league.
Last season, Brunson won the Clutch Player of the Year award, but this upcoming season, he has the chance to break a seven-year streak by becoming the first American to win the regular-season MVP award since 2018.
“Has anyone’s profile soared more in the last three years than Brunson’s?” Shaun Powell of NBA.com wrote on Brunson being a top US-born candidate for MVP next year. “A second-round pick in 2018 and backup point guard in Dallas, Brunson is now an elite point guard and runs New York City, the league’s largest market. He’ll be hard to ignore.”
James Harden was the last American to win the award, doing so in the 2017-18 season. Since then, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have each been named MVP from 2019 to 2025. Before then, Hakeem Olajuwon, Steve Nash, and Dirk Nowitzki, and Tim Duncan were the only non-Americans to win the award in the first 71 years of the NBA.
Brunson A Top MVP Candidate
Since joining the Knicks, Jalen Brunson has transformed the franchise with unparalleled recent success. He has led the team to three straight playoff appearances and back-to-back 50-win seasons, capped off with their first conference finals appearance in 25 years.
His individual play has been at an elite level in that span, too. During the 2023-24 season, he had a career-high 28.7 points per game, finishing 5th in MVP voting. He followed that last season by averaging 26 points and 7.3 assists, earning a top-10 MVP finish and his second consecutive All-NBA Second Team selection.
“He was second, by a hair, to Cade Cunningham in scoring among point guards last season but was a more efficient shooter,” Powell wrote. “His strongest case is his ability to win in the clutch, although, with a new coach in Mike Brown, Brunson may be asked to spread the wealth in those situations. That makes the Knicks even more dangerous and unpredictable late in fourth quarters.”
Brunson won Clutch Player of the Year last season, leading the NBA in ‘field goals made (52) and ranked second in total points (156) and third in total assists (28),‘ in clutch-time, which is considered the final five minutes of a game that is within a five-point score.
If he takes another step up while continuing to lead the Knicks to success, it will all but guarantee a shot at next year’s MVP award. Even still, he will likely have to compete against the likes of Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander, and Antetokounmpo, each of whom has finished top-five in voting for the award over the last three years.
A Recent History Of MVP Winners
The NBA hasn’t seen an American win the MVP award since 2018. Since then, Antetokounmpo has won the award twice, Embiid and Gilgeous-Alexander once, and Jokic three times.
The only current US-born players to win MVP are Harden, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James. Each won at least once from 2009 to 2018, with now-retired Derrick Rose taking home the trophy in 2011.
While it is relatively unlikely that any of them would win the award again, as all are in the later stages of their careers, Brunson is among a group of top American players who have the chance to win MVP next season. Along with him, Anthony Edwards, Cade Cunningham, Donovan Mitchell, Anthony Davis, and Paolo Banchero each have strong odds to win the regular-season award in what is expected to be a tightly contested race.
Despite them, foreign-born players are still dominating the odds. Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander, and Antetokounmpo remain the top-three favorites, while Luka Doncic and Victor Wembanyama are also predicted to be in the race for MVP in 2025-26.
Despite the seemingly insane amount of players who have the chance to take home the hardware next year, Brunson remains a top candidate for the award.
“If Brunson improves as a passer and finishes among the assists leaders, that’ll be viewed favorably by voters, who could conclude that Brunson’s growth is worth more votes,” Powell added. “Anyway, the Knicks project as a 50-plus win team and a possible top-three seed in the East. If Brunson brings the stats, mark him down as a serious contender.”
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