The New York Knicks are led by two All-Stars who are now legitimately in the hunt for NBA MVP honors.
Knicks: Karl-Anthony Towns & Jalen Brunson in MVP race
In the latest installment of the Kia MVP ladder, NBA.com’s Shaun Powell ranked Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns at No. 4 and point guard Jalen Brunson at No. 8 overall. Powell had this to say about Towns:
“Towns has been steady all season and wears the unofficial title as Best Center In The East, partly because of his stellar play and, to be fair, partly because former Kia MVP Joel Embiid has struggled with injuries and absences,” Powell wrote. “Towns and the Knicks managed to handle [Nikola] Joki? and the Nuggets on Wednesday. They’ll face James and the Lakers next.”
Towns’ triumph over Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic adds to case
Towns has been sensational for New York all season long. In the midst of a career outing, the Kentucky product increased his MVP odds with the job he did defensively on Jokic in their last outing. He was largely responsible for holding the reigning league MVP and owner of the No. 2 spot in these rankings to a mere 17 points, six rebounds and six assists on 40 percent shooting from the field. That output was way down from his 29.7 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 10.1 assists per contest for the year.
Marquee head-to-head matchups usually serve as major deciding factors in the MVP race on a yearly basis. Towns getting the 122-112 win over Jokic’s Nuggets while locking him down has him primed to potentially ascend into the top three in the next rankings if he puts up a couple of big outings in the games to come.
Knicks’ Brunson now in MVP hunt for 2nd straight season
Powell also entrenched Brunson in the top 10. The Villanova product is also having an incredible season. With more mouths to feed in New York, Brunson is still averaging 25.9 PPG and 7.5 APG. He’s also the first player in the history of the NBA to be putting up at least 25 and seven in those departments while also averaging under 2.5 turnovers per contest with 2.3 TO.
Brunson and Towns are in the same ballpark offensively, but the latter has established himself as a more domineering presence this year. However, Brunson finished in the top five in last season’s race. Nevertheless, both are in the hunt for the Association’s top individual honor come season’s end and will look to keep up their standout play as they round the Knicks into playoff form.