Jalen Brunson has developed into one of the NBA’s premier point guards, but the New York Knicks star still remembers sliding into the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft — and on Sunday, he offered a blunt explanation for why it happened.
Brunson’s rise from second-round pick to franchise cornerstone has become one of the league’s most remarkable success stories, making any discussion of his draft-day fall particularly noteworthy years later.
Brunson was asked what NBA teams missed about him during that draft eight years ago.
“Everything,” he responded.
The New York Knicks guard dropped that single-word verdict at 2026 NBA Finals media day Sunday, with the Knicks two wins away from proving the basketball establishment wrong on the largest stage the sport offers. The name of his charity — the Second Round Foundation — already made the point for him. Now an NBA championship would make the argument, too, if the Knicks can get two more wins over the San Antonio Spurs.
Brunson’s Draft Story
Conventional wisdom in 2018 had Brunson pegged as a college overachiever who didn’t measure up to NBA standards. He had just won the Naismith Award as the nation’s top player and delivered Villanova its second national championship in three seasons, but the league passed on him through 30 first-round selections and two in the second, leaving him for the Dallas Mavericks at pick No. 33.
His Knicks and Villanova teammate Mikal Bridges, taken 10th overall by Philadelphia in that same draft before being traded to Phoenix, addressed why he watched Brunson drop that night.
“Sometimes, when it leads up to the draft, I think measurements are just too important to teams, compared to just watching basketball,” Bridges said, as quoted by NBA.com. “I don’t know what more he has to do — National Player of the Year, leading his team to a championship.”
Dallas drafted Brunson but never fully committed to him. The Mavericks let Brunson walk after four seasons without extending a serious offer to keep him, and the Knicks moved in with a four-year deal in the summer of 2022.
During the 2025-26 regular season, Brunson averaged 26 points and 6.8 assists per game. He has matched that output across 13 consecutive playoff wins. That run, built around the Villanova core that New York assembled over several years, now has the franchise two victories from its first championship since 1973.
Knicks’ Road to Game 3 vs. Spurs
The Knicks took a 2-0 series lead over the San Antonio Spurs after a Game 2 win at Frost Bank Center, where Bridges posted 20 points, six rebounds and six assists to bail out a foul-plagued night for Karl-Anthony Towns, according to NBA.com. Brunson scored 20 points in that contest as New York overcame a 12-point first-half deficit.
The series now shifts to Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks hold home-court advantage and the crowd that has waited five decades for a title will be waiting. Game 3 tips off Monday.
The 2018 draft class that undervalued Brunson didn’t just miss on a role player. Three members of Villanova’s championship roster — Brunson, Bridges and Josh Hart — are now starters on the Knicks’ Finals team. Hart was taken 30th in that draft, also in the first round, while Brunson slipped into the second round. The trio could become the first group of former college teammates to win both an NCAA title and an NBA championship together, according to CNN.
Jalen Brunson Gives Blunt Take on Why He Fell in 2018 Draft