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Jalen Brunson Had Classy Plans for His NBA Cup Finals Prize Money
The Knicks became the 2025 NBA Cup champions on Tuesday, taking down the Spurs 124-113 to win the NBA’s third annual in-season tournament. After trailing the Spurs by five entering the fourth quarter, New York outscored them 35-19 in the final period to take home the crown.
As part of winning the NBA Cup, the Knicks players and head coach Mike Brown will receive $530,000 in prize money while the Spurs players get $212,000 as the runner-ups.
For a player like Jalen Brunson, who was named the NBA Cup Finals MVP after scoring 25 points with eight assists and four rebounds, the prize money isn’t necessarily a huge deal. Brunson makes about $39 million per year, so he instead plans to use some of the NBA Cup money to give back.
"I'm giving some of it back to our training staff,” Brunson said after the game. “For sure some of its gonna go to them. They helped us to get here.”
Jalen on what he plans to do with the $500K+:
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) December 17, 2025
"I'm giving some of it back to our training staff...they helped us to get here for sure" pic.twitter.com/JHABqMXmSH
Brunson wasn’t the only Knicks player with plans for prize money. Karl-Anthony Towns similarly wants to give back and told The Athletic that he plans to donate to the Dominican Republic. Josh Hart said to The Athletic that he plans to buy a watch with the money after he had three watches stolen from him back in September.
While the Knicks enjoyed the win and will receive prize money in reward, they view this as a stepping stone to their championship aspirations. The Knicks advanced to the Eastern Conference finals last season, and will look to take the next step as they aim to end their 50-year championship drought this season.
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Eva Geitheim is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in December 2024, she wrote for Newsweek, Gymnastics Now and Dodgers Nation. A Bay Area native, she has a bachelor's in communications from UCLA. When not writing, she can be found baking or re-watching Gilmore Girls.