One cursory scroll through your preferred social media timeline will prove that plenty of people still believe Jalen Brunson is on the Mt. Rushmore of foul-baiters and grifters. The NBA’s emphasis on weeding out off-arms and flopping says otherwise.
Prior to the start of the 2026-27 season, the league announced new officiating points of emphasis. This list includes categories such as “stop with the flop” and “don’t be so forceful with that off-arm against a defender.”
One week into the schedule, the impact is already being felt. Through the first week of the 2025-26 campaign, the average team made 24.3 free throws per 100 field-goal attempts. During that same span this year, the free-throw rate has dropped 22.3.
This doesn’t prove the game has changed forever. But the points of emphasis were supposed to impact so-called grifters like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and the reigning Finals MVP.
That isn’t happening in Brunson’s case. And it's a sobering reality check for anyone who thinks he plays unethical basketball.
Jalen Brunson’s foul-drawing has translated to the new world order
One of Brunson’s many superpowers is his capacity to power the Knicks’ offense even when he’s not making shots. His slump from the floor to start the season carried over into the team’s first victory on Tuesday night. He shot just 5-of-18, and missed all five of his three-point attempts.
The captain finished with 23 points anyway—because he went 13-of-16 from the charity stripe. Brunson’s scoring line is just the 10th time since 2022 that a player has hit the 23-point threshold while making no more than five field goals and zero three-pointers.
Those 16 free-throw attempts give him 36 total on the season. That comes out to 9.2 attempts per 36 minutes. Not only is that mark higher than the 5.9 he averaged last year, but it would be by far and away a career high.
Brunson’s foul rate will in all likelihood decline. But even if it remains static relative to seasons past, it’s proof that his foul-drawing was never the byproduct of propagating overexaggerated or theatrical contact, or by abusing the use of the off-arm.
All these trips to the foul line have always been more predicated on his skill and intellect. His footwork and body control are mind-melting anomalies. He uses pivots, head-fakes, changes-of-direction, and circus handles to keep defenders on tilt.
His low center of gravity helps with overall control and speed. His strength allows him to withstand more contact than the average guard. What’s often portrayed as baiting is actually just his willingness and ability to explore tight spaces others will not or cannot.
Yes, he will seek out contact. And he will sell it—at both ends of the floor. He doesn’t hide from it, either. But there’s a difference between selling and baiting. Brunson’s pendulum has always swung towards the former. He plays and adapts within the rules set before him.
And now that his foul-drawing is standing up against the NBA’s crackdown on flopping and off-arm gimmicks, allegations to the contrary can be considered beaten—even if the haters on your social media timeline won’t admit.
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