Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic <\/p>\n
BOSTON \u2014 If Jalen Brunson\u2019s No. 11 is ever retired by the Knicks and hung in MSG\u2019s rafters, Evan Fournier, of all people, will have played an important role.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hours before he tipped off against the Celtics in Game 2 of the conference semifinals, Brunson revealed the winding origin story of his decision to not only wear No. 11 with the Knicks, but also to stick with that number when his initial two choices became available.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his first four NBA seasons with the Mavericks, Brunson wore No. 13 as a tribute to his favorite NBA player \u2014 Steve Nash. The attraction to Nash made sense for Brunson, who is also a small and crafty point guard reliant on footwork and smarts over athleticism.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he would dribble under the basket and everyone would have to fan out and all of the sudden he\u2019s alone with the big in the midrange and the big doesn\u2019t know what to do \u2014 I feel like I learned that from him,\u201d Brunson said Wednesday. \u201cI learned a lot [from him].\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he revolutionized that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But when Brunson joined the Knicks as a $104 million free agent in 2022, Fournier was wearing No. 13. The Frenchman at that point was a 10-year veteran who just set the Knicks record for 3-pointers in a season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brunson demurred.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to wear 13 here. \u2026 [But] I just didn\u2019t want to ask, didn\u2019t want to say anything,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brunson\u2019s second choice was No. 1, which he wore while winning two national titles at Villanova. But Obi Toppin was entering his third season with that Knicks jersey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the top free agent signing, Brunson probably had enough cachet to at least ask for those numbers. Maybe even offer his teammates money for those numbers \u2014 as other players tend to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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But as a newcomer, Brunson didn\u2019t feel comfortable flexing his status. Relatedly, the now-28-year-old also waited until Julius Randle was traded before being announced last during home lineup introductions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to earn things, I didn\u2019t want to do anything to kind of show status or anything like that,\u201d Brunson said, \u201cso No. 11 came about and I\u2019ve been rocking it ever since. That\u2019s why I chose the number.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Within 1 \u00bd seasons, Fournier and Toppin were both traded. But Brunson had already established himself as the top Knicks star and his jersey was gaining popularity. Last season, his No. 11 was fifth in sales in the NBA \u2014 behind Luka Doncic, Steph Curry, LeBron James and Jayson Tatum.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brunson became attached. Now, Cam Payne wears No. 1, and No. 13 remains open.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI stuck to it, I stuck to it. Not gonna lie, we don\u2019t really talk about this that much, but seeing little kids wear No. 11 around the Garden, it\u2019s a special feeling and I didn\u2019t want to change my number,\u201d Brunson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He might also be the last Knick to wear it. In just three seasons, Brunson has twice been an All-Star \u2014 including being named a starter this year \u2014 and was the first Knicks guard on All-NBA since Walt Frazier.\u00a0<\/p>\n
More impressively, Brunson entered Wednesday as a spectacular playoff performer, averaging over 30 points with the Knicks. His three playoff series wins already eclipsed the New York careers of Carmelo Anthony and Bernard King.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brunson still has a ways to go to reach Nash\u2019s career of two MVPs and four conference finals. And if that happens, it\u2019ll be with Nash\u2019s influence \u2014 but not his number.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI met him when I was younger,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cI had the ability to reach out and knew that he\u2019d respond. I don\u2019t want to say he\u2019s a mentor, but he\u2019s someone that if I really wanted to I know that he\u2019d respond. I have that respect for him and from what I\u2019ve seen he has that respect for me also.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic BOSTON \u2014 If Jalen Brunson\u2019s No. 11 is ever retired by the Knicks and hung in MSG\u2019s rafters, Evan Fournier, of all people, will have played an important role.\u00a0 Hours before he tipped off against the Celtics in Game 2 of the conference semifinals,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":305288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-305287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305289,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305287\/revisions\/305289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}