CBS Sports released a ‘Top 25 players in East’ list yesterday that featured Knicks’ Jalen Brunson at #4. The 28-year-old has been earning his stripes as one of the best players in the league as people aren’t hesitating in giving him his flowers. He was hailed as a top-five point guard in the league by Isaiah Hartenstein as well.
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The 26-year-old made an appearance on Ur.Perspectives, where he was in conversation with Damyean Dotson. They discussed who are the best PGs in the league and whether De’Aaron Fox will rank above Brunson on that list. Hartenstein stated that the Knicks star must be put above Fox on the PG list.
The OKC star was so confident about his take that he jokingly tried to walk off the podcast when Dotson snubbed Brunson from his list. He stated that Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Stephen Curry, De’Aaron Fox, and Ja Morant are the top five PGs in the league in his opinion. Hartenstein disagreed. He said, “He [De’Aaron Fox] top 10, but he’s not above Jalen Brunson.”
“It’s not slander. I’m not saying he’s bad, I’m just saying you’re putting him above Jalen Brunson after the season he had last time. Jalen Brunson averaged 30 in the playoffs and all our players were hurt,” Hartenstein added. When he was asked if Morant would be ranked above the Knicks star, he said, “That’s an argument but he was hurt last year.”
The 26-year-old said that Shai, Curry, Doncic, Morant, and Brunson will be the ideal top five PGs according to him. Hartenstein stated that the reason why he roots for Brunson so much is because he played 82 games in the regular season and then had a good playoff run as well.
However, Brunson only played 77 games last season, but it was still very impressive. As for the comparison with Fox, the OKC star said that he’d put Tyrese Maxey and Tyrese Haliburton above him as well.
Comparing De’Aron and Brunson’s last season stats
Fox and Brunson had a good run in the regular season. While Brunson had a longer season compared to Fox as the Knicks made it into the playoffs and played in the Conference Semifinals, the Sacramento Kings couldn’t make it past the regular season.
During the regular season, Fox played 74 games, averaging 26.6 points, 5.6 assists and 4.6 rebounds. He shot 46.5% from the field and 36.9% from the three-point line. Brunson on the other hand, maintained a clear advantage over Fox in almost every aspect of the game.
He played 77 games for the Knicks in the regular season, averaging 28.7 points, 6.7 assists and 3.6 rebounds. He maintained a clear lead in shooting as well, with 47.9% from the field and 40.1% from the three-point line. Looking at these numbers, it’s understandable why Hartenstein was so eager to put Brunson over Fox in his top five PGs list.
