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Knicks' Jalen Brunson

All-Star guard Jalen Brunson has been a certified culture changer for the New York Knicks since signing with the franchise in 2022. Along the way, he has established himself as one of the best teammates in the NBA.

The league office announced Wednesday that Brunson received 33 first-place votes, 16 second-place and 19 third-place votes in the final tally for the 2025-26 NBA Teammate of the Year award. The southpaw received a total of 659 points after being named as one of the 12 finalists for the award (six from each conference) that were selected by a panel of league executives. Active NBA players then voted from the final 12 finalists.

Although Brunson finished sixth in total points, he received the fourth-most first-place votes, behind only winner DeAndre Jordan, Jeff Green and Garrett Temple.

Jalen Brunson: A Model Teammate

The NBA’s announcement wasn’t necessarily surprising.

Brunson finished in the top three in the NBA Teammate of the Year voting the last two years. He’s the only player to finish within the top-12 in each of the last three seasons.

Brunson has also been widely praised for making financial sacrifices to help the Knicks build a title contender. The three-time All-Star took a $113M discount in 2024, which in turn allowed the Knicks to trade for a max player like Karl-Anthony Towns and other high-end players like OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges. Those moves enabled the Knicks to reach their first Eastern Conference Finals of the 21st century last year.

“My man turned down 113 (million),” former Knicks player Theo Pinson said of Brunson. “I’ll always say it straight like this: Jalen Brunson is the best teammate in NBA history. He’s the best teammate in NBA history. Stamp it. But hell to the no am I taking a $113 million paycut living in New York City!”

Knicks vs Hawks Game 6

Another former Knicks player, Raymond Felton, said no other superstar-level player in NBA history would have left $113M on the table for the betterment of the team.

“No way in hell!” Felton said when asked if he’d make a similar sacrifice. “Hey, look, Jalen Brunson: I know that you’re the ultimate teammate, I know you’re a great guy. But come on, bruh, I ain’t leaving that type of money on the table.”

Brunson and the Knicks will try to close out the Atlanta Hawks in Thursday’s Game 6. The Knicks stormed back to take a 3-2 series lead after going down 2-1 after Game 3.

“Captain” Brunson led the charge with a vintage 39-point performance in Game 5, including 17 points in the first half, to script a 126-97 victory. Many analysts wrote off the Knicks after they fell behind 2-1 in the series courtesy of back-to-back daggers by Hawks guard CJ McCollum last week. Since those losses, Mike Brown’s team has flipped the switch, outscoring Atlanta by an average margin of 22.5 points over its last two wins, while shooting 53% from the floor and 44% from three.

The Knicks would set up a second-round clash with either the Boston Celtics or the Philadelphia 76ers with a win on Thursday. The Knicks upset the Celtics in last year’s East semifinals before losing to the Indiana Pacers in the conference finals.