Jalen Brunson Proving Himself the Best New York Knick Since Carmelo Anthony

Five years after the Dallas Mavericks drafted him in the second round and just under a year after they let him join the New York Knicks in free agency, Jalen Brunson is already etching his name in New York Knicks history.

After staving off elimination with 38 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Miami Heat, the 6'1" bowling ball of a point guard is now averaging 26.5 points and 5.9 assists in the postseason.

No one in Knicks history ever matched or exceeded both of those marks for an entire playoff run (among those with at least as many total minutes as Brunson). And Bernard King (34.8 in 1983-84) and Carmelo Anthony (28.8 in 2012-13) are the only two who averaged more points.

That's Knicks royalty. Before his first campaign with the team is even over, Brunson finds himself among them.

And his heroics on Wednesday have extended this welcome campaign for at least one more game.

If, somehow, Brunson leads his team to two more wins, he'll undoubtedly have an argument to be considered the organization's best player since Melo. And you might even be able to go further back than that.

According to Basketball Reference, box plus/minus, which is tracked back to 1974, "is a basketball box score-based metric that estimates a basketball player's contribution to the team when that player is on the court."

The top 10 in career box plus/minus in a Knick uniform is eye-opening.

1. Bernard King (4.2)
2. Jalen Brunson (3.9)
3. Bob McAdoo and Patrick Ewing (3.4)
5. Carmelo Anthony and Jason Kidd (3.3)
7. Doc Rivers (2.9)
8. Walt Frazier (2.7)
9. Micheal Ray Richardson (2.5)
10. Marcus Camby (2.4)

Of course, that's not a definitive all-time ranking of Knicks stars. It's just one number hoping to measure overall contributions. And its developers are open about its warts.

But it has historically been a strong indicator of MVP, and it mirrors the value Brunson is currently bringing to the Knicks.

Julius Randle is this team's All-NBA performer (he was just given the honor for the second time in New York), but an apples-to-apples comparison with Brunson shows the guard probably had the better individual season.

• Brunson: 39.3 points plus points generated by assists per game, 2.1 turnovers and 0.9 steals per game, 59.7 true shooting percentage
• Randle: 35.7 points plus points generated by assists per game, 2.8 turnovers and 0.6 steals per game, 58.1 true shooting percentage

And if those regular-season numbers don't convince you, look no further than games like Wednesday's and Brunson's general command of the team throughout the playoffs.

Everything is running through him. In the 112-103 win over the Heat, he was handing out dimes as hit-aheads in transition, kick-outs from drives and lobs over the top to a high-flyer like Obi Toppin.

And his offense is a lot more about scoring than it is passing. His floater and pull-up games are better than most guards, especially when he can get away with an unextended forearm shiver to knock his defender off-balance.

All of that and more has been on display this postseason. Again, to the tune of numbers that New York fans haven't really seen since Melo.

Randle isn't the only Knick who doesn't quite stack up to Brunson in that stretch.

Derrick Rose had his moments, but availability has been a struggle for him since 2011-12. Kristaps Porziņģis was supposed to be the next face of the franchise, but injuries and inconsistency plagued him too. It's too early to tell how things will pan out for RJ Barrett, but he's certainly not on Brunson's level right now.

Honestly, when you look at the list of players who've donned this uniform since Anthony left after 2016-17, the headline seems kind of obvious.

And if Brunson gets to the conference finals for the second year in a row, loftier comparisons will be in order.

Melo topped out in the 2013 conference semifinals with the Knicks, where Brunson is now. Patrick Ewing made the Finals twice, but he had nine first- or second-round exits. King never got past the second round.

This is one of the game's premier organizations, with a zealous fanbase, much of which hasn't witnessed a championship. The last time the Knicks won one of those was 1973, when Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley, Earl Monroe and Willis Reed were in the blue and orange.

And while this team probably isn't going to end the drought (it has to win two more in a row just to escape Jimmy Butler and the Heat), Brunson is proving himself the kind of player who can be part of a group that can.

He's bringing energy and respectability back to a franchise that was dead last in the NBA in winning percentage from 2000-01 to 2021-22. And if that leads to the acquisition of another star, more team success could follow.

With a few years of that, Brunson will solidify his position among the best Knicks we've ever seen.