Over the past two seasons, a couple of point guards have stood out. Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks led his team to end a 52-year title drought, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won the Oklahoma City Thunder their first title since they were known as the Seattle Supersonics back in 1979.
Those two guards were the primary reasons behind the championship runs. Naturally, this has led to multiple comparisons between the two teams and their superstars. This includes former NBA champion PJ Tucker, who has given his opinion on which player is better.
PJ Tucker believes Jalen Brunson is the better player over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
For the past few years, the NBA has returned to having bigger players as the star players. Stephen Curry changed basketball by empowering all types of guards to succeed, but with players like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic, the NBA went back to its traditions.
However, that has changed as well because the past two NBA champions were led by point guards. Of course, Gilgeous-Alexander is not the prototypical point guard because he is 6’6″, but Brunson is an anomaly because he is only 6’1″ while starring as the league’s most dangerous star.
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Since they were champions, the two point guard stars have been constantly compared over the past few weeks. They led their respective teams to championships as their best players, so it has naturally led to people speaking about them as some sort of rivals, including PJ Tucker.
“I’m rolling with JB for sure. JB’s so clutch, bro. It ain’t even like I think he’s like a 90s era player, bro… He don’t talk a lot, and he don’t going to do too much, but everybody like when you on his team and you on the bench, you over there like he’s getting the ball, bro,” Tucker said on Club 520’s show at Fanatics Fest.
“Like he’s going to if he’s not shooting, he’s making the play every single time. And it’s a lot of teams in this league that got stars and all that, and they do not want the moments.”
Tucker brings valid points about Brunson’s game, but the same points could be said about Gilgeous-Alexander. He is a back-to-back MVP after all, and Tucker should know why he has that special status. It is a fair comparison because they are among the best guards in the league, but Tucker might be underestimating the Thunder superstar.