The NBA is a copycat league, like every other sport. With the league's eighth new champion in the past eight seasons set to be crowned in the coming weeks, front offices haven't had any shortage of inspiration with regard to building a contending roster.
The New York Knicks are unique, having built the 2026 NBA Champions in five years without ever prioritizing their draft slot over a win. At 6-foot-1, NBA Cup and Finals MVP Jalen Brunson doesn't fit the traditional mold for a basketball superstar. But the Knicks truly began on their championship-winning path when they realized Brunson was one, and built their roster around him.
Rival teams aren't exactly going to be able to pull a Brunson of their own out of a hat. Despite the fact that the Knicks have two, the family isn't growing Knicks point guards on trees. But every team can learn from how Brunson led New York to their first title in 53 years. Despite concerns about his size, and obviously on top of his ridiculous shot-making ability, the guard is a prudent decision-maker.
In an era where teams have more data than ever about what shots are best, cerebral ball handlers that can execute – making the right reads, and making the shots when the read is to take them – should be valued at a premium going forward.
Brunson, Haliburton, SGA, Harper's playoffs show NBA's next "meta" skill
In this modern era of sports, more data is available to teams, players, and even fans than ever before. It has unequivocally affected the NBA's style of play, even though most of fans' complaints regarding analytics are misguided.
Teams having a better idea of how to perform better simply makes for more intense competition, with franchises across professional and amateur leagues investing heavily in analytics in search of advantages.
Analytics, though, are only as impactful as the analysts using them to explore sets of data. A great formula won't be much help in the hands of unprepared strategists. The same applies to the numbers and trends inevitably guiding ball handlers' quests to generate sustainable offense.
As a result of the more even playing field, players across positions are becoming more versatile (can every big shoot now?) and there are more possibilities than ever with regard to what a "healthy" possession or shot can look like.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is elite for plenty of reasons, but his decision-making within the Thunder offense is an underdiscussed one. Brunson just put together an entire postseason's worth of a masterclass in decision-making with the basketball.
Even Tyrese Haliburton's deep playoff run leading the Indiana Pacers was interrupted by an unfortunate injury, but made the exact same argument: creators with strong discernment and decision-making abilities under pressure should be valued at a premium.
Haliburton exceeded the expectations of countless pundits and fans because of his extraordinary ability to make the "right" play with regard to creating easy, efficient offense. It helped put his skill in a position to outweigh the vast majority of the concerns that experts had about his game, and the extents to which it would (or wouldn't) translate to the professional level.
Brunson just did the same thing, at 6-foot-1. His shot-making is otherworldly. His leadership is perfect. But maybe most importantly, he controls what he can control. As a result, he creates teach tape almost every time he squeaks his shoes on an NBA Court. Teams can't clone the 2026 Finals MVP, but they can learn from how he just proved them all wrong.
Or they could not. The Knicks would probably prefer the latter of the two.
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