Jalen Brunson’s massive mural outside Peruvian restaurant unveiled
Jalen Brunson continues to lead the New York Knicks in his second season with the franchise, and the fans are starting to recognize him as their hero. One such evidence of this is a mural made in his likeness outside of the Pio Pio Peruvian restaurant in Jackson Heights in the borough of Queens.
Brunson himself came to cut the ribbon for the new mural.
The New York Knicks acquired a point guard with superstar potential when Brunson signed with them in 2022. He was a crucial member of the Dallas Mavericks squad that beat the Phoenix Suns in seven games in 2022 to advance to the Western Conference finals before losing to the eventual champions, the Golden State Warriors.
Brunson and the Knicks agreed to a four-year, $104 million deal, pairing him up with Julius Randle to create a potent one-two-punch offense. Immediately after signing with the Knicks, Brunson almost doubled his scoring averages.
In his first season in New York (2022-23), he averaged 24.0 points and 6.2 assists per game through 68 contests, helping the team to the fifth seed with his high scoring and playmaking.
In the playoffs, the Knicks took down the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-1 in the first round before falling to the Miami Heat in the conference semifinals.
Also read: "Pemdas": Jalen Brunson sparks age-old opinionated debate with viral tweet.
Jalen Brunson recently suffered an ankle injury
The Knicks star point guard got hurt on Friday against the Boston Celtics. Even worse for Knicks fans is that the injury occurred with only 21 seconds left with the Celtics leading by double-digits, meaning that a comeback in the 133-123 loss was unlikely.
The injury occurred when Jalen Brunson accidentally stepped on Payton Pritchard's foot as he waited for Julius Randle to inbound the ball. After the incident, Brunson limped towards the locker room. He exited the game with 23 points and four assists.
This unfortunate incident hurts the Knicks on offense since Brunson has been their go-to guy on offense, leading the team with 24.8 points and 5.5 assists per game.
He is listed as questionable for Monday's game against the Toronto Raptors. If he sits out the game, the offense will most likely go through Randle.
Immanuel Quickley, who has come off the bench in every single game this season, will most likely start in Brunson's place. That will give the backup guard a chance to run the offense.
Quickley has been averaging 15.0 ppg and 2.8 apg off the bench and is considered to be one of the early candidates for the Sixth Man of the Year award.