Is Jalen Brunson now a Top 5 player in the NBA?

[ozgod]

ESPN's Bobby Marks thinks so. He says in his writeup on NY's postseason (he does writeups for every team that has gotten eliminated so far) that Brunson is a Top 5 player.

(click to enlarge)

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/39854732/nba-offseason-2024-draft-trade-free-agency-guides-every-eliminated-nba-team#ny

Assuming Brunson is Top 5, who else makes up the Top 5 with him? I'm guessing Joker, Embiid, KD, and LeBum? I'm sure Bobby doesn't rate JT Top 5, probably not even Top 10 

[Who]

I saw another top 5 asking if Ant was now there. There was no Embiid and no Tatum.

They had Jokic, Doncic, SGA, Ant and Giannis.

[Who]

No, I do not think Brunson is a top 5 player.

I do think he had a top 5 season. I would like to see him on the First Team All-NBA. As I said in one of the other threads, I'd like to see him there instead of Giannis. He had no co-star like Giannis had and led his team to an equal (slightly better) season than Giannis. So I'd like to see Brunson get the nod there.

I am not sure if Brunson is a top 10 player either. I probably wouldn't go lower than top 15 though. Although some of that may depend on what you do with some of the golden oldies like LeBron, Durant and Kawhi.

[blink]

He's a really good scoring guard (probably the best), and really good at flopping.   But I don't think he is a top 5 player in the NBA, he isn't really a 2 way player, at least not to me.

[Goldstar88]

Might not be a top 5, but it’s pretty incredible what Brunson has been able to do as a 6’ guard. Last player that size to put up those type of numbers was Allen Iverson.

[Smartacus]

Clearly not top 5 since I do not think you could put him in any team and he would be guaranteed to replicate the success that. He’s found in NY.

Jokić, Doncic, Tatum Giannis, Embiid, SGA, and Ant have undeniable traits that could completely regardless of scheme or Roster construction.

Brunson is still great. Top 9-14 easy but I need more than his physical limitations can offer for top 5.

[trickybilly]

I think he's just saying that many people think that he's top 5.

Like a Trumpian "people are saying...", but people are actually saying

[SHAQATTACK]

Nope

[Roy H.]

Top-10, not top-5.

[Donoghus]

Top-10, not top-5.

I could get on board with that.  Def not top 5, though.

[Muzzy66]

No way.

Brunson is a #2 guy putting up #1 guy numbers because he's averaging ludicrous minutes and usage rates on a team that has no other scorers because half their roster is on the injured list. 

Brunson ranked 4th in usage rate during the regular season (32.5%) and 1st in the playoffs (36.4%).  To put this into perspective Tatum had a usage rate of 33.3% in 2020/21 when he took on the Nets without Jaylen Brown and averaged >30 PPG (including a 40 point gsame and a 50 point game).

If the Knicks were healthy and Randle was playing Bruson would be doing the same as he was last year - putting up an efficient 24, 6 and 3.  Those are nice numbers, but they are not the numbers of a top 10 or even top 15 player.

[GreenEnvy]

There may not have been 5 players playing better than him the past month, but he’s not a top-5 player. His run was very similar to IT4’s in 2017. Similar overall numbers and percentages.

We rode Isaiah into the ground and I feel like the Knicks are doing the same with Brunson. Same happened with Iverson and Rose over time. These small guards may dominate, but they pay a price. Nothing is easy for them.

[scaryjerry]

Nope.
Just like when Isaiah was playing out of his mind and it seemed like he might be. He wasn’t.
Even though I can be critical of Jayson Tatum, these narratives that all of a sudden Brunson is was better than him are puke inducing

[Moranis]

32.6 ppg is nice, but he did do it on 26.2 shots which is a pretty pedestrian 1.2366 points pet shot (Tatum in the playoffs is at 1.3575 as a comparison). 31% from 3 on 6.5 attempts is Marcus Smart level bad. 

Brunson may be a top 5 most valuable player as he is everything to the Knicks, but I think you could argue he isn't even a top 10 player almost as easily as you could he is a top 5 player.

[Moranis]

And before anyone goes crazy I think these 7 are clearly better players

Jokic, Giannis, Embiid, Luka, SGA, Tatum, Edwards

I also happen to think these guys are better as well, but they are more debatable

Curry, Lebron, Durant, Booker

I'd put Brunson in the group with

Davis, Kawhi, Butler, Morant, Mitchell