New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson is among the few NBA athletes who grew up under the supervision of an NBA athlete father. Jalen’s father, Rick Brunson, is a former NBA star with nearly a decade-long career in the league. Even today, Rick is a part of the league as an assistant coach for the Knicks.
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The father-son duo recently made an appearance on The Mark Jackson Show, where the 2024 All-Star was asked about his experience growing up as the son of an NBA player. Jalen stated that, like most things, this also had its pros and cons. Although he did acknowledge that the pros outweighed the cons, there were still cons to having an NBA player as his father.
Not having his father around as much as he’d have wanted to was tough for Jalen as a kid. And that was pretty much the only disadvantage he faced.
Jalen said, “Obviously the cons, my dad being on unguaranteed and being around the league, I didn’t really get to see him as much as a lot of other kids get to see their dads every other day.”
“So, I didn’t see him a lot during the season, that was definitely a con of mine, but I know he was living his dream, and he was preparing me for mine,” he added.
As an NBA athlete, Rick used to have a hectic schedule when the season was underway. Even during the offseason, he had to consistently work out and do all his practice drills to make sure that he stayed in shape for the following season.
While Jalen understands everything now as an NBA star, it was difficult for him to wrap his head around it at the time, when he was just a kid.
The 27-year-old believes that seeing his dad work so hard on his craft instilled the right attitude in him. Having access to NBA courts, locker rooms and other players also opened up his mind at a very young age about what he wants to be in life. He had his dad’s blueprint which he could use to become a successful basketball player.
All of these, he believes, not only made him the player he is, but also helped him become a man.
Rick Brunson’s NBA career
During their conversation on the show, Mark Jackson told Jalen that he is indeed a better player than his dad. Even though Jackson was joking, that’s a fact.
If we take their careers for reference, Jalen has accomplished more already than his father. JB is an All-Star and has made the All-NBA Second Team once.
But that doesn’t mean that Rick Brunson wasn’t a good player back in the day. After going undrafted in the 1995 NBA Draft, he got his first break in the league in 1997 with the Portland Trail Blazers. After that, he joined several other teams including the Knicks, Celtics, Bulls and the Clippers.
In 2006, Rick ended his playing career with the Rockets. In a league where the average career span is 4.5 years, Rick played for nearly a decade. After retiring as a player, he became an assistant coach with the Nuggets in 2007 to kickstart his coaching career.
