Jalen Brunson joined the New York Knicks and quickly blossomed into a franchise superstar. Now, under new head coach Mike Brown's system, it's looking like he might not be quite as ball-dominant as he was before.
At Tuesday's media day, Brown was asked about this topic, and he discussed having Brunson play more off-ball until crunch time. That's the point where he will inevitably have the ball in his hands.
"The biggest thing that I want to do for [Jalen Brunson] is try to get him, as well as everybody else, easy shots," Brown said. "And one of the easiest shots in the game of basketball is a spray three. I'm a big proponent of touching the paint, and spraying that basketball for a catch-and-shoot three.
"Within what we do, we're going to try to get him a lot of those situations. On top of that, if you do touch the paint, whether it's on a dribble drive or on a cut ... we want you to keep moving. And again, the little bit that we've seen so far in Jalen during these optional workouts, he seems like he's embraced it. Because you have to be in great condition in order to play this way."
Of course, the first player many thought of when hearing this from Brown was Stephen Curry. Brunson's going to be making one of the same adjustments the future Hall-of-Famer did early on in his career. That's likely to get a lot of fans riled up and excited, and rightfully so. But although Brown notes Jalen has embraced it to this point, it's also worth wondering how this will play out long-term.
Mike Brown is asked about utilizing Jalen Brunson off the ball:
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) September 23, 2025
"The biggest thing I want to do for him is get easy shots. One of the easiest shots is a spray three...I'm a big proponent of touching the paint and spraying that basketball for a catch-and-shoot three" pic.twitter.com/ywzk3Z8CPY
Brunson will likely have lower usage in Brown's system
Making this change and shifting Brunson more off-ball takes away his control of the offense. There will be fewer creation opportunities within the flow of the game, and fewer chances to dictate the tempo. For a player that's used to handling the ball and having full control, this could feel like limiting what makes him most valuable.
This type of shift in offensive philosophy for the Knicks is clearly going to require something of an adjustment period. Jalen's teammates are going to need to accept the responsibilities of creating more on offense, making tougher passing reads, and moving off the ball. Additionally, shifting back to Brunson in crunch time will have the potential to create confusion and a feeling of role inconsistency.
There's basically two ways to look at this situation. You can think of it as a necessary evolution in Brunson's game that was going to come sooner or later. This train of thought would say that you would eventually have to reduce his usage in order to lengthen longevity and preserve Jalen's body.
The other line of thinking on this would say that Brunson's biggest strengths since arriving in New York have been in the departments of isolating, creating and making pull-up jump shots. Taking a new direction here could weaken what has made him so special to this point.
Overall, whether this idea works or not is likely going to come down to how much Jalen Brunson is willing to embrace his new role. If he buys in, the Knicks could unlock a more dynamic and balanced offense under Mike Brown. If not, they could risk unsettling their superstar just as expectations in the East are peaking.