Now in his fourth season with the New York Knicks, Jalen Brunson is seemingly discovering that, sometimes, less can be more.
Off to yet another strong campaign in the Big Apple, the All-Star finds himself posting impressive averages of 28.3 points, 6.1 assists, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 46.2 percent from the field.
Interestingly enough, however, some of Brunson's best performances so far have come in losing efforts, where he's dropping a sensational 34.0 points per game.
To some, seeing the point guard's most buzzworthy outings consistently leading to defeat could be viewed as a tad concerning.
However, when analyzing this trend through a glass-half-full lens, one could make the case that it's actually a positive sign, indicating that his supporting cast is finally stepping up.
Knicks playing their best when Jalen Brunson takes a step back
Last season, it seemed as if the Knicks had no chance in games where Brunson wasn't lighting up the scoreboard.
In winning efforts during the 2024-25 campaign, the superstar saw stellar averages of 26.0 points on 49.9 percent shooting from the floor and 42.4 percent shooting from deep.
This year, it appears he's taken somewhat of a step back in such contests, at least from a counting stats perspective, as he's dropping averages of 24.8 points on a much less efficient 41.2 percent shooting from the floor and 30.8 percent shooting from deep.
And, yet, New York is still residing within the top-five seeds out in the Eastern Conference standings at 5-3.
The reasoning for why seems to be rather simple.
Throughout the Tom Thibodeau era, fans and pundits alike were highly critical of his lack of desire to dip into his bench unit. Last season, New York's reserves ranked dead-last in minutes played at just 12.7 a night.
In wins, they would remain dead-last at 12.9, and would contribute a league-worst 23.3 points per night.
Though they have gotten off to a relatively underwhelming start compared to preseason expectations, head coach Mike Brown's new-look regime is obviously leaning more on the second unit, especially in winning efforts, where they average 17.4 minutes per night and are dropping 36.6 points.
After three straight years of an obscenely high usage rate that, ultimately, has led to a bit of wear and tear, Brunson is visibly seeing the club's dependency on him dwindle ever so slightly. Fortunately, this shift has resulted in an impressive amount of success so far and, hopefully, will continue on as the campaign progresses.