Jalen Brunson is an NBA champion. Sandra Brunson has seen the magic in the work

There were plenty of VIPs at the Second Round Foundation charity golf event earlier this month. However, one first-time guest drew much of the attention: the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.

Guests stopped to take photos with the trophy throughout the day at Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York. A few feet away, family members, coaches, mentors and longtime friends traded stories about the habits and relationships that helped New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson hoist it.

Winning an NBA title still hasn’t fully sunk in for Brunson.

“I remember one time just driving and then [it] just popping into my head like ‘Damn, you really did it,’” the 29-year-old Knicks star said.

While the trophy drew plenty of attention, Brunson spent the day surrounded by family, friends and supporters who knew him long before he became an NBA champion and New York City legend.

Ask Sandra Brunson, Jalen’s mother, what this level of success has revealed about her son, and she will tell you it has little to do with what’s changed.

“He’s true to form,” Sandra said. “In times of achievement and accolades, never forgetting about what’s important.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is his competitive streak. Basketball may be the obvious example, but Sandra says tennis, ping-pong, Uno and even Scrabble bring out her son’s desire to win. That competitiveness apparently extended to Mario Kart, where Brunson declared himself “undefeated” and pointed to his Knicks teammates as proof. Sandra, meanwhile, said she has retired her Nintendo Switch.

“It’s that drive and that never-quit attitude that he has that transcends the basketball court,” Sandra said of her son.

Long before that competitiveness showed up on an NBA court, Brunson was trying his hand at just about everything. His forthcoming children’s book, Jalen Plays It All, revisits the different sports he tried growing up before finding his way to basketball. Not every sport stuck, but quitting halfway through wasn’t an option.

“You may not like everything that you do, but at least finish out what you’ve said you would,” Brunson said.

His parents also made sure the right people were around him along the way. Sandra recalled seeking teachers, coaches and mentors who could help bring out the best in her children. Those relationships stuck. Brunson said he still keeps in touch with every coach he’s had, dating back to middle school.

That’s the kind of support the Brunson family now hopes to extend to other young people through the Second Round Foundation. Its name is intentional: Brunson was selected three picks into the second round of the 2018 NBA draft.

Founded in 2022 by Brunson and his family, the foundation creates opportunities for young people through education, sports and community programs, focusing on under-resourced and underestimated youth.

For Sandra Brunson, the goal is to help young people see possibilities beyond what is expected of them.

“We want them to be more than what society may deem them to be,” she said. “Whatever it is, we want them to be great at it.”

That drive to be great doesn’t leave much room for a true day off. Sandra joked that her son’s “perfect off day is still an on day,” and Brunson agreed. Even on days off, he said he usually finds his way to the gym for recovery, weightlifting or shooting.

 “It’s how I’m wired,” Brunson said. 

His wife, Ali Marks Brunson, agreed that a basketball-free day is rare. When one happens, she said their ideal version is pretty simple: coffee, a stroller walk with their daughter, a nap when she naps, and sushi followed by a movie. During the offseason, she added, Jalen especially enjoys early-morning beach walks with their two dogs, describing the time as “very relaxing” and “serene.”

For Monica McNutt, who covers Brunson and the Knicks as an ESPN analyst and radio host for MSG Network, his story is about the people around him and the hours he’s put into his craft.

“The magic truly is in the work,” McNutt said, pointing to Brunson’s diligence and “the support system around him.”

For Brunson, that support goes both ways. When asked what makes him most proud of his mother, he pointed to the dedication and attention to detail she has poured into the Second Round Foundation over the years.

“What I do on the court has helped this foundation,” Brunson said. “But she’s the real deal.”