At five years old, Jalen Brunson did what Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, Gary Payton, John Stockton, and more couldn't: stop Michael Jordan.
The New York Knicks point guard was the subject of a humorous Jordan-based anecdote shared by ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk on the Monday edition of the Worldwide Leader's "NBA Today."
Youngmisuk recalled penning an article that asked stars of the modern NBA about their introduction to Jordan. The post was written to coincide with the release of the MJ-centered documentary "The Last Dance," which focused on Jordan's final season with the Chicago Bulls.
Brunson's father Rick, the head coach at Camden High School in New Jersey at the time of the article's writing, was among Youngmisuk's subjects. The elder Brunson recalled a Jordan-starring story from His Airness' last playing days with the Washington Wizards, one that also featured a five-year-old Jalen and another metropolitan hardwood hero in Ewing.
"(Rick) bought a Michael Jordan jersey, a No. 23, brand-new, white jersey," Youngmisuk recalled, regaling "NBA Today" co-stars Malika Andrews and Marc Spears. "Rick Brunson took him into the locker room, (and) introduced him to Patrick Ewing and Patrick Ewing said 'Hey, do you want Michael Jordan to autograph that jersey?' Michael comes over and says 'Do you want me to autograph that jersey?'"
"Jalen Brunson doesn't know who Michael Jordan is and said 'No, you'll ruin the jersey," Youngmisuk concluded, drawing laughter from Andrews and heartbreak from Spears. "Obviously, to this day, (Jalen) still regrets that, but yes, he did turn down the GOAT."
Youngmisuk mentions that Rick was also playing for the Wizards at the time, though the elder Brunson has never been officially listed on any Washington roster. Jalen's age and the prescience of Ewing, however, make it easy to date this story back to the 2002-03 season, when Rick was, ironically enough, repping the Bulls. Ewing, Jordan's longtime friend and on-court rival, served as an assistant coach for that one season in Washington before moving onto Houston's bench after Jordan's final retirement.
The third of Rick's 17 games in Chicago came against Jordan's Wizards. In what became Jordan's final game at United Center, Rick earned a double-double off the bench (10 points, 10 assists) in a 104-97 Bulls victory. Chicago, of course, hosted Jordan's long-immortalized championship antics, as he earned six in 13 seasons (1991-93, 1996-98).
Ewing and the Knicks were frequent victims of Jordan's dominance, as Chicago disposed of New York in each of its first four championship runs. The Knicks earned brief revenge with a seven-game win en route to an Eastern title in the 1994 conference semifinals but Jordan had retired to play baseball by that point.
Rick would later work for Jordan during the 2012-13 NBA season when he was an assistant coach for the Charlotte Bobcats (then a Jordan property) under Mike Dunlap
Jalen Brunson became an Illinois basketball star in his own right by bursting onto the scene at Stevenson High School before joining the Villanova Wildcats. Two national titles followed before he heard his name called as the 33rd overall pick of the 2018 draft. He'd spent four seasons with the Dallas Mavericks before both he and Rick landed in New York last summer. Rick's well-traveled NBA career also brought him to Manhattan for 69 games between 1997 and 2001.
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