*Jalen Brunson’s championship season delivered one of the biggest accomplishments of his basketball career. The New York Knicks star led the franchise to an NBA Cup title and an NBA championship while earning NBA Cup MVP, Eastern Conference Finals MVP, and NBA Finals MVP honors.
The achievement arrived more than a decade after his family found itself at the center of a series of highly publicized controversies involving his father, Rick Brunson. Today, Rick serves as an assistant coach on the Knicks staff, placing father and son in the same organization during one of the most successful seasons of Jalen’s career.
Years earlier, legal troubles put Rick under intense public scrutiny. According to Basketball Network, in 2015, authorities charged him with attempted criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual abuse, aggravated battery, and domestic battery following allegations involving a massage therapist. A court later cleared him of the criminal charges after hearing inconsistent testimony from the accuser.
Rick acknowledged having an affair outside his marriage, but maintained that the criminal allegations were separate from his personal conduct. “I let my wife down. I let my family down. I’m supposed to be an example for my kids. I did something morally wrong. But I didn’t do anything criminally wrong,” he said.
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Additional controversy followed in 2018 when Rick left his role as an assistant coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves after several women accused him of workplace harassment.
These events unfolded while Jalen was emerging as one of college basketball’s top young players. Rick criticized media coverage that brought his son into discussions about the allegations, arguing that Jalen should not have been drawn into the controversy. “I’m tired of people putting an 18-year-old kid in my BS,” he said.
“A woman lied. We fought it and did it the right way in a court of law. We raised Jalen the right way. He didn’t react to anything and did a great job handling this with dignity. None of this is going to break him or us,” Rick stressed.
He also praised Jalen’s response to the attention surrounding the allegations, adding, “My son is one of the toughest kids I’ve ever seen. If it was me, I would never have been able to handle what he handled, people taunting him.”
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