Jalen Brunson has spent the summer in a very different place than where he started it. After leading the New York Knicks to their first championship in 53 years, the guard has gone from franchise star to one of the biggest names in the NBA.

The attention around Brunson has followed the Knicks everywhere, from a title run that produced some of the league’s biggest audiences to a sharp rise in his jersey sales. Now, one former ESPN personality has taken that rise a step further.

Max Kellerman said, “Jalen Brunson is a bigger star than Shai – not close. Bigger star than Jokic – not close. None of those… The only guys who are on his level- he’s a bigger star than KD. He’s a bigger draw than KD right now.”

There is some evidence behind the claim. The Knicks are scheduled for 34 national TV games in the 2026-27 season, tied for the most in the league with the Spurs, 76ers and Lakers. Oklahoma City is scheduled for 30, while Denver has 28.

Get the Essentially Dunk Newsletter. League-wide coverage every day on the All-Stars, MVPs, iconic legends, and the drama defining the NBA.

The Knicks’ championship run produced even bigger numbers in the audience. Game 5 of the Finals averaged 24.5 million viewers and peaked at 33 million, making it the most-watched Finals Game 5 since 1998. The series itself averaged 20.6 million viewers, its highest mark since the 1998 Finals.

A large part of that attention came from the stage Brunson now occupies. He is the face of the Knicks after ending a 53-year championship drought, giving his biggest games a combination of New York’s market, the franchise’s history and the weight of the title chase. That makes Brunson’s current drawing power difficult to separate completely from the team around him.

Asked by the New York Post’s Dexter Henry whether winning the championship changed how he saw himself, Brunson said, “Hasn’t. That wouldn’t do it. … It will be the same. … Just because I’ve reached the mountaintop of winning an NBA championship doesn’t mean that it’s over with. I feel like there’s still a lot more to do and a lot more that I can prove. It’s 100 percent always going to be in the mind; I’m just not going to let it define me.”

Brunson’s play gave the attention plenty to feed on. He averaged 28.4 points, 6.1 assists and 3.2 rebounds across 19 playoff games, then raised that to 32.6 points, 4.6 assists and 4.2 rebounds in the five-game Finals. The Knicks went 16-3 in the playoffs, while Brunson also collected NBA Cup MVP, Eastern Conference Finals MVP and Finals MVP honors during the season.

But Kellerman’s argument only works if “bigger star” is limited to the present. Durant and Jokic still have the kind of résumés Brunson is only beginning to build. Durant has the longevity, championships, MVP history, and global commercial profile, while Jokic has multiple MVPs and a championship of his own.

Jersey sales offer another sign of Brunson’s rise. He ranked third in NBA jersey sales for the 2025-26 season, behind only Stephen Curry and Luka Dončić. Wembanyama was fourth, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ranked eighth, Nikola Jokić 10th and Durant 11th. The Knicks also ranked No. 1 in team merchandise sales.

The jump is notable because Brunson’s jersey did not start near the top of the league’s sales chart. He climbed from outside the top 10 to fifth and then third as his role and the Knicks’ success grew.

Kellerman’s claim may still sound extreme, but Brunson now has enough evidence behind his rise to make the debate real. The Knicks’ national exposure, massive Finals audiences, third-place jersey sales and a championship season filled with individual awards all point to a player whose profile has reached another level. Whether that makes him a bigger star than Durant or Jokic today is still up for debate. Whether Brunson has become one of the NBA’s biggest current draws is much harder to ignore.