New Jalen Brunson injury update will only add to his Knicks legacy

New York Knicks captain Jalen Brunson was already viewed as a franchise and a New York sports legend for guiding the Knicks to an NBA Finals victory over the San Antonio Spurs that ended the Knicks' 53-year title drought.

It turns out Brunson's springtime heroics may have been even more impressive than outsiders realized. 

Jalen Brunson needed a procedure after NBA Finals win

KnicksFanTV revealed that Brunson was "expected to undergo a minor procedure Tuesday." NBA insider Ian Begley of SNY later noted that Brunson "was playing through significant wrist pain during the Knicks’ 2026 championship run and will have surgery to repair a wrist/forearm injury." According to ESPN's Shams Charania, the left-handed point guard specifically needed surgery on his left wrist.

Brunson presumably was playing through discomfort when he scored 17 of a game-high 38 points en route to helping the Knicks erase a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on May 19. Later, Brunson and the Knicks completed the biggest single-game comeback in NBA Finals history on June 10. 

Brunson ultimately cemented himself as the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player when he scored 45 points on 14-of-27 shooting in the Knicks' 94-90 Game 5 win over the Spurs on June 13. In total, he averaged 32.6 points, 4.6 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 2.0 steals against San Antonio.

When can Knicks expect to get Jalen Brunson back on the court? 

"The Knicks have not released a timeline for recovery," Begley added, "but league sources say Brunson will be rehabbing/recovering for at least two months." 

Meanwhile, Charania shared that Brunson "is expected to return to basketball activities later this summer." 

NBA training camps for the 2026-27 season will not open until late September, so Brunson has plenty of time to rest up and get right before he and the Knicks will need to start preparing to defend their championship. Of course, Knicks fans may spend portions of their summers waiting for updates about Brunson's ongoing recovery to surface.