Jalen Brunson has received a lot of love from Knicks fans since signing with the team in 2022, but not every New York faithful was cheering for him during All-Star Weekend.
The star played in his first career All-Star Game in 2024 and also participated in the 3-Point Contest. One man, however, took exception to Brunson’s performance in the shootout: Jalen’s father and Knicks assistant coach, Rick Brunson.
Jalen Brunson detailed the interaction on the “Roommates Show,” a podcast featuring himself and Knicks forward Josh Hart.
“I heard like some dude behind the bench, some bald guy sitting behind the bench,” Brunson said. “I heard, ‘You effing bum!’ I was like ‘Who just said that?’ My dad. He was like, ‘With that bonus, we could have finished my basement.'”
Someone called Jalen a bum at the 3pt competition 👀
Full episode: https://t.co/z3DNhbLkUq pic.twitter.com/tfGL1rNTcN
— Roommates Show (@Roommates__Show) February 22, 2024
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The first-place winner in the 3-Point Contest is awarded $ 60,000, per the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, which would have been a big help in finishing the Brunson’s basement. Hart said Brunson’s dad made a “valid point.”
Unfortunately for the family, Brunson finished the first round with 24 points, which wasn’t enough to advance him into the final round.
That being said, Brunson didn’t leave empty-handed. Second place earned $ 40,000, third place earned $ 25,000, and fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh place each earned $ 15,000. The eighth-place finisher still made $ 10,000.
Brunson finished in sixth place, so maybe he can share that $ 15,000 with his dad for the basement renovations.
Where did Jalen Brunson finish in the 3-Point Contest?
Brunson participated in his first NBA All-Star Weekend in 2024 after leading the New York Knicks to a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference. The star guard is averaging 27.5 points and 6.6 assists per game on 47.9 percent shooting from the field and 40.6 percent from the 3-point line.
In the 3-Point Contest, Brunson scored 24 in the first round, ranking him sixth behind Lauri Markkanen and ahead of Donovan Mitchell.
| Player | Round 1 (Tiebreaker) | Finals |
| Damian Lillard | 26 (16) | 26 |
| Trae Young | 26 (15) | 24 |
| Karl-Anthony Towns | 26 (16) | 22 |
| Tyrese Haliburton (Eliminated) | 26 (12) | — |
| Lauri Markkanen (Eliminated) | 25 | — |
| Jalen Brunson (Eliminated) | 24 | — |
| Donovan Mitchell (Eliminated) | 21 | — |
| Malik Beasley (Eliminated) | 20 |
— |
While Brunson was just two points off the top spot and eventual winner Damian Lillard, his first-round score wasn’t enough to advance to the finals.
Brunson’s dad wasn’t the only person disappointed in the Knicks guard. Mitchell told Brunson that he was a “failure” after the competition, despite Mitchell finishing below him.
“I should have advanced,” Brunson said. “I had 24 with three money balls left. And just clank after clank after clank.”
Each money ball is worth two points, so if Brunson drained one of the remaining three, he would have been included in the tiebreaker for the final round.
