LeBron James Identifies What Makes Jalen Brunson So Hard to Defend

Jalen Brunson is one of the best scorers in the NBA postseason, averaging just under 27 points per game for the New York Knicks.

Brunson, a 6-foot-2 point guard, seems to get to his spots at will. He scores in a variety of ways, going to work at the rim, in the midrange and behind the 3-point arc.

During the most recent episode of the “Mind The Game” podcast, LeBron James identified Brunson’s dominant left hand as a reason he’s so difficult to defend.

“He’s a lefty,” James said. “90% of our league, 95% of our league are righties. The lefties that are dynamic in our league, it’s sometime just hard to kind of get a cadence of that. Manu Ginobili, James Harden and now Jalen Brunson. It’s a different feel when a guy is coming at you lefty.”

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Brunson scored 30 points in the Knicks’ series-opening win over the Spurs in San Antonio. He followed that performance up with a 20-point outing in Game 2, securing a 2-0 lead for New York on the road.

Brunson scored a series-high 32 points in Game 3 on Monday night, but it wasn’t enough to take down Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs for a third straight game. Wembanyama also scored 32 points to go along with his eight rebounds, six assists and three blocks in the 115-111 win at Madison Square Garden.

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Game 4 of the NBA Finals will tipoff at 8:30 p.m. ET Wednesday night.

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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 9:10 PM.