With the NBA Finals pitting the New York Knicks against the San Antonio Spurs, all eyes are on the various players competing for their first-ever championships.
On one side are the Spurs, led by 22-year-old emerging superstar Victor Wembanyama, a former No. 1 pick who has already shown his abilities to do amazing things in just a few seasons.
The opposing side features the New York Knicks, led by former second-round draft pick, 6-foot-2 guard Jalen Brunson, who is proving that sometimes the biggest talents aren’t the biggest players and can get overlooked out of college.
Wemby and Brunson have shown that players selected in the NBA Draft can become stars from anywhere in the order, from first to 33rd overall. College prospect Darius Acuff Jr., expected to go in the top 10, recently admitted that he’s now studying Brunson’s game.
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“I’ve been focusing on both teams, of course, but really been seeing how Jalen Brunson is navigating through the defense and stuff like that. Obviously, as a PG myself, I’ve been paying attention to that,” Acuff told Draymond Green on “The Draymond Green Show.”
Acuff rose to national prominence as a freshman with the Arkansas Razorbacks, averaging 23.5 points, 6.4 assists, and 3.1 rebounds per game, with a 48.4 percent field goal percentage. Listed at 6-foot-3, many mock drafts project him to go seventh at the latest in this month’s NBA Draft.
“It’s two teams that got really great players, but their role players is really taking over the game and [Karl-Anthony Towns] is getting it done for the Knicks right now,” he said.
However, when asked if he had to pick his NBA Finals MVP right now, he said he’d have to give it to Brunson, but admitted KAT is definitely “changing the game.”
Brunson claimed the Eastern Conference Finals MVP after leading his squad to a 4-0 sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He’s now on the verge of adding the NBA Finals MVP.
Through two games of the series, Brunson is averaging 25 points, four assists, four rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game, playing an average of 37.5 minutes per game. Towns has come up big with back-to-back double-doubles and solid defensive performances against Wembanyama.
The Spurs meet the Knicks for Game 3 of the NBA Finals at 8:30 p.m. ET on Monday.
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