Josh Hart dishes on Jalen Brunson’s rise to stardom following Christmas Day upset of Bucks.

The New York Knicks pulled off a major win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Christmas Day. For a team that’s trying to reach the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference, this was one of the biggest wins of the season for the Knicks. Leading the way for the Knicks was star guard Jalen Brunson. Brunson’s name has been in the news recently, but there’s no denying that he’s emerged as a legit star. Following the win against the Bucks, Josh Hart admitted via Stefan Bondy of The New York Post that he did not see this rise coming.

“I always knew he put the work in to be successful. But, even me, I didn’t know how it would translate to the NBA style,” Hart said. “But s**t, when did I know? Probably like three years ago when he started doing it.”

Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart were teammates in college at Villanova and are teammates once again on the Knicks. Hart is right in that Brunson’s rise to NBA stardom is a remarkable story. Brunson was a second round pick, No. 33 overall to be exact, by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2018 NBA Draft.

Brunson steadily improved each year he was in the league but has broken out with the Knicks in a bigger role than he had with the Mavs. This season he’s been averaging a career-high 25.6 points per game, 4.0 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.1 steals with splits of 47.8 percent shooting from the field, 46.2 percent shooting from the three point line and 80.5 percent shooting from the free throw line.