NEW YORK — The New York Knicks are officially two wins away from their first championship since 1973. While the city is ready to crown its favorite son, a fascinating historical trend suggests that a Karl-Anthony Towns NBA Finals MVP trophy presentation could completely alter the narrative of who gets the ultimate credit for this historic championship run.
A Karl-Anthony Towns NBA Finals MVP Run Could Honestly Steal the Spotlight From Jalen Brunson
Through the first two games of the series, Jalen Brunson has shouldered the primary playmaking burden and hit the loud, signature shots that send Madison Square Garden into a frenzy. Yet, an objective look at the floor reveals that Karl-Anthony Towns has consistently been the most efficient and impactful player on both ends of the hardwood. He is averaging an efficient 19.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in the NBA Finals while holding Victor Wembanyama in check defensively. If this dynamic keeps up, Towns could easily take home the silverware, joining a prominent list of co-stars who stepped into the ultimate spotlight on the game’s biggest stage.
The Precedent of the Larry Bird Trophy Overshadowed Stars
To understand how a secondary star can take home the MVP trophy over a franchise’s undisputed leader, you only have to look back at how voters handled the Eastern Conference Finals in recent years. It famously happened when Pascal Siakam won the Larry Bird trophy as the Eastern Conference Finals MVP after a stellar performance to slide past the Knicks. Even though Tyrese Haliburton was the engine behind that roster’s explosive style, it was Siakam’s steady, two-way paint presence that voters valued most when the games became a grind.
An even clearer parallel happened during the Boston Celtics’ recent championship run. Jaylen Brown took home both the Eastern Conference Finals MVP and the NBA Finals MVP honors over first-team All-NBA superstar Jayson Tatum. Tatum commanded the bulk of the defense’s attention and handled the primary playmaking duties, but Brown’s clinical efficiency and relentless defensive assignments ultimately won over the voters.
Efficiency, Defense, and the Big-Man Narrative
The voting panel for the Finals MVP loves to reward the player who completely alters the series dynamic, and right now, Towns is doing exactly that. While Brunson faces waves of perimeter traps, Towns is enjoying a five-out floor configuration that lets him attack off the bounce and space the floor from deep.
This freedom has created a massive efficiency gap, with Towns shooting the lights out from both the field (56%) and from downtown (43%) through the first two games. Karl-Anthony Towns leads all players in plus-minus at plus-25, meaning the Knicks have outscored the Spurs by a whopping 25 points in his 68 minutes during the Finals.
More importantly, Towns is doing the dirty work that saves the team’s season by taking the primary, grueling defensive assignment against Wembanyama, providing elite rim protection and point-of-attack defense that has flustered the ascendent big man. As a result, Wembanyama already has seven turnovers when guarded by Towns.
Reignition of the Small Guard Debate
Beyond just the hardware, Towns winning the award would add massive fuel to a polarizing league-wide debate that has been raging since the Knicks sealed their return to the NBA Finals.
Back in December 2023, Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon went viral on ESPN’s *NBA Today* by boldly asserting that the Knicks lacked a true “1A dude” because the 6-foot-2 Brunson was simply “too small” to lead a roster to a title. Hammon recently doubled down on those comments right before the Finals began, arguing that history shows teams whose best players are small guards—like Allen Iverson or Steve Nash—traditionally fall short at the finish line. Personally, the theory doesn’t make sense because Stephen Curry literally exists.
Becky Hammon: [The Knicks] don't have a dude… you got to have a 1A dude."
Kendrick Perkins: "They do have that dude."
B: "Who?"
K: "Jalen Brunson."
B: "He too small. If your best player is small, you're not winning… Steph Curry is the only dude."pic.twitter.com/XWhJHZXpxT
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 21, 2023
If New York captures the title, Brunson will have officially proven Hammon’s team-building thesis wrong by anchoring a championship squad. However, if a Karl-Anthony Towns NBA Finals MVP victory actually happens, it creates an entirely new layer of sports talk radio ammunition.
Skeptics would instantly use Towns’ trophy to argue that the Knicks still required an elite, 7-foot frontcourt anchor to actually cross the championship finish line, leaving the “can a small guard be the most valuable player on a title team” question technically open for debate.
If the Knicks finish the job, Brunson will always be heralded as the king of New York. But when it comes to the hardware, a Towns MVP outcome wouldn’t be a robbery—it would just be the latest chapter in a long history of elite big men peaking at the exact right moment.
Credit:© Scott Wachter-Imagn Images
