Jalen Brunson’s name is a hot topic right now because of the impressive career-high 50 points he dropped on Phoenix. Gilbert Arenas wished there was more respect attached to that name. Brunson is finally getting noticed since going from Dallas to New York. He’s the much-needed reinforcement Julius Randle required. Yet why wasn’t he getting the recognition for being this good his entire career?

Gilbert Arenas makes a peculiar comparison to project his theory. “He’s elite, his name is just not elite… Reminds me of Isaiah Thomas, that Boston year. He is the motor of the team but the name doesn’t match the game,” Arenas said on Gil’s Arena seemingly stumping even his cohorts.

Isaiah Thomas played for the Boston Celtics from 2015 to 2017. Those years are said to be the best in this NBA journeyman’s career where he was considered a crowd favorite. He was the sixth Celtic to score 2000 points in a season, led the team to the top seed in the East, and was dubbed an “elite crunch time scorer.”

Tragedy and triumph went parallel for Thomas who led the Celtics to a first-round series victory in the 2017 playoffs a day after losing his sister in a car accident. He didn’t celebrate the win and instead flew across the country to make it to her funeral before returning to the ECF semifinals.

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Thomas has not played in the NBA since the 2022 season. Last year, he expressed his desire to play for Boston again and even discussed with the team. He was left frustrated that Boston wasn’t open to having him. Is Jalen Brunson on the same trajectory as Arenas pointed out?

Gilbert Arenas on Jalen Brunson’s humble origins

Jalen Brunson outscored Kevin Durant and led the New York Knicks to a 139-122 win over Phoenix – not something any statistician predicted. He’s been stuffing the stat sheet with double digits since he came out of Luka Doncic’s shadow.

He’s quite close to Isaiah Thomas, averaging 25.5 PPG so far this season. Finally, he’s looking like a lethal scoring machine as much as Doncic. As Arenas put it, Brunson is one of those who, “come into the league, they are a force, but because they don’t have that backing, that AAU name, that stardom name, they don’t get the recognition.”

Brunson could change that perception at the rate he’s going. He at least has Gil’s respect.

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