Jalen Brunson's Mom Sandra Brunson Is The Real Knicks MVP
The Real MVP? Meet Jalen Brunson’s Mother Sandra, The Black Woman Who Helped Turn Him Into A NBA Champion - Page 3
As the age-old adage goes, “Behind every great man, there’s a great woman.” And that proverb is especially true for Black men. Just ask our former forever President Barack Obama. Ask Jay-Z. Ask Denzel Washington. Hell, even Jamie Foxx has credited Black women with being his backbone and support system during life’s most trying times. For New York Knicks captain Jalen Brunson, the sistah behind his success has always been his mother, Sandra Brunson.
“I told him, as a leader, he has to understand that everyone has a job to do. And every one of his teammates has to feel comfortable in their role and believe in their role, no matter what it is,” Sandra recently told CBS Mornings of her son.
The 29-year-old three-time NBA All-Star did not just understand the assignment; he aced it, leading the motley crew of underdogs to the 2026 NBA Champions. The Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 4-1 in the NBA Finals to win their first title since 1973. Scoring a whopping 45 points in Game 5, the 6’2″ tall guard helped his team bounce back from a 16-point deficit to win 94-90.
RELATED CONTENT: Bucket Baddies With Big Energy — The 30 Hottest NBA Players In The Game Right Now
Adding salt to the wound, the kings of clutch beat the Spurs on their home court at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, which was the ultimate payback for the Knicks’ heartbreaking 1999 NBA Finals loss to the Spurs at Madison Square Garden. Jalen spearheaded his team to finally end a long-standing rivalry between the two franchises and lift the legendary “Knicks Curse,” so it’s no surprise that he was named Finals MVP.
“I have no words,” he said during the on-court celebration. “It’s everything I ever dreamed of.”
For the mother of two, who put positive affirmations on the family’s kitchen refrigerator, and taped devotionals to her son’s bathroom mirror, or slipped them in his lunch bag, during his sophomore year of high school, surely, Sandra is equally elated by her son’s victory.
A former athlete herself, Sandra was a Division I volleyball player, as well as a teammate and roommate of Kobe Bryant’s sister, Sharia Bryant, at Temple University, where she met her husband and Jalen’s father, Rick Brunson. So, she understands the immense pressure of competing in elite sports and tries her best to bring groundedness and calm to her son with thoughtful gestures like texting him before every game.
“To give him some words of encouragement, to put what he’s doing in perspective, you know?” Sandra, 72, explained on CBS Mornings. “It’s a big game, but it’s not the end of the world. It’s basketball.”
But don’t let the assistant coach on the Knicks bench—who happens to be her husband of 30 years—hear that. Rick played collegiate basketball at Temple and went on to play in the NBA for the New York Knicks. Incidentally, he was on the team when they made it to the finals in 1999. So, let’s just call that a little splash of hot sauce on that wound mentioned previously.
At the 2018 NBA draft, Jalen was picked 33rd by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round. But instead of viewing that as a shortcoming, Sandra used her son’s milestone as a stepping stone on her own professional path, establishing the Second Round Foundation, a nonprofit corporation with a mission to “empower young people to determine their own success, regardless of background or circumstance.”
“The foundation was born out of Jalen’s journey,” said Sandra of the all-volunteer organization she co-founded in 2022. “The 33rd pick is in the second round. I wanted him to understand that just because he wasn’t viewed as a Top 10 pick in the NBA didn’t mean that he couldn’t succeed.”
Before taking on the role of the foundation’s Chief Financial Officer, Sandra, a native New Yorker born to Jamaican parents from St. Ann and Mandeville, worked in corporate and litigation law for 30 years.
“The fastest way that we can have an impact is to go to schools where children and families need resources,” she told CBS. “We’re small, and we’re growing.”
Check out Sandra Brunson’s full interview on CBS Mornings below.
RELATED CONTENT: Serena Williams Finally Reveals The Weight-Loss Drug Behind Her 34-Pound Transformation — Without Losing That Famous Booty
