All-Star guard Jalen Brunson earned the key to the city after leading the New York Knicks to a championship in last season's NBA Finals. Ahead of the defending his first title, Brunson understands how challenging it is to repeat.
Brunson addressed how vital it'll be for the Knicks to ignore the outside noise that comes with returning as defending champions, per SNY Knicks.
“There's only potential distractions when you read and believe what people are saying. No matter what's been said, no matter what's being talked about consistently or not, you believe what you want to believe. You hear what you wanna hear,” Brunson said. “So, it's on us as teammates and individuals, and professionals, to understand what the nature of it is. Yeah, people are going to talk about it, but guess what? We gotta control what we can control, and do our jobs. We're going to have each other's back regardless.”
Article Continues Below"There's only potential distractions when you read and believe what people are saying. No matter what's been said… You believe what you want to believe."
Jalen Brunson on keeping the Knicks focused and avoiding distractions 🗣️
(via @sny_knicks)
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 10, 2026
For Jalen Brunson, the Knicks blocking out the noise is, in part, what led them to becoming champions last season.