Mavs Ex Jalen Brunson Leads in MVP Odds Entering NBA Finals

Jalen Brunson has been everything the New York Knicks have needed him to be since leaving the Dallas Mavericks and signing in free agency ahead of the 2022-23 season.

As he nears the end of his eighth NBA season and fourth in New York, Brunson has an opportunity to deliver one of the league's most iconic franchises its first championship in decades, and officially take over superstar status in the league.

Not many Mavs fans may have expected Brunson to grow into the stardom that he has, especially had he stayed in Dallas and played alongside Doncic. However, despite how frustrating Dallas' lack of urgency in re-signing him was, I'd bet most MFFLs still have a soft spot in their heart for the second-rounder out of Villanova.

Brunson, of course, isn't alone in New York with his pair of fellow "Nova Knicks" - Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart - building on their championship success from college together in the NBA.

But when it comes to the leader of the bunch, there's no debate. "JB" reigns supreme in the city this summer, and the rabid fans at The Mecca could begin heralding him as one of the team's all-time greats already if he can hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy soon.

Entering the NBA Finals, the unanimous Eastern Conference MVP is named the clear favorite to take home Finals MVP honors if the Knicks win it all. His +200 Finals MVP odds, however, are second-best overall, behind San Antonio's do-everything big man Victor Wembanyama (-170).

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Brunson has proven critics wrong time and time again since emerging as the All-Star that he is in New York. He's taken his game from a 12 points-per-game contributor in Dallas to a definitive No. 1 option with the Knicks, averaging 26.3 points and 6.8 assists over the last four years.

He's also accounted for the most playoff production of any player in that time. There's no person Brunson has proven more wrong than former Spurs assistant and Hall of Famer Becky Hammon, who criticized Brunson's ability to lead back in 2023 after leaving Dallas.

"If your best player is small, you’re not winning," Hammon said back then about the Knicks missing a "1A" player despite signing the 6-foot-2 Brunson to a $104 million contract.

Throughout his success, she's kept up her tone.

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"I speak from experience," she said recently to reporters. "Allen Iverson got MVP, and he lost in the Finals. I think the two best teams are probably in the West, but I’m up for being proven wrong. That’s the other thing; I think Jalen Brunson’s a hell of a player. I’m speaking historically about the NBA with what I said. I don’t know why everybody’s so stuck on that. I said it two years ago. I stand by it."

Brunson can add to the changing of that guard by becoming just the third player shorter than 6-3 to be the undisputed best player on a title-winning team, joining the likes of Isiah Thomas and Stephen Curry.

Meanwhile, ESPN broadcaster Mike Breen, who is the regular-season voice of the Knicks and will be on the call throughout the Finals, compared Brunson's attributes to some of the biggest competitors the sport has ever seen.

"He has an iron will," Breen said. "He’s not tall, he’s not fast, he’s not overly athletic. But he’s one of the mentally strongest players I’ve ever been around.

"They talk about Michael Jordan, they talk about Kobe Bryant … in terms of mental toughness, I’d put him up there with anybody."

After needing to find his true self away from the Mavs, Brunson can cement himself as one of the game's best with four more wins.

The rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals begins Wednesday, June 3, with Game 1 in San Antonio at 7:30 CT on ABC.