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Jalen Brunson Looks Forward to Knicks Civil War

The New York Knicks' All-Stars will do battle at the 2025 NBA All-Star Game.
Geoff Maggliocchetti|
Nov 27, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) and guard Jalen Brunson (11) and Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) in action during the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the New York Knicks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Nov 27, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) and guard Jalen Brunson (11) and Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) in action during the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the New York Knicks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

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New York Knicks

This Towns is only big enough for one New York Knick.

New York has two men in the NBA All-Star Game's starting five for the first time since 1975, as Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns will carry the torch on Sunday night in San Francisco (8 p.m. ET, TNT). Alas for New Yorkers, they'll have to pick a side: Brunson was chosen on a team curated by Kenny Smith while Towns is playing for Charles Barkley's group as part of a four-squad tournament format.

Brunson relished the challenge as he prepared for the exhibition at Chase Center, showing mock hatred toward Towns in an interview with Allie LaForce of NBA TV.

"We're not friends at all. We don't like each other," Brunson said, hardly able to hide his smirk. "So to compete against him is going to be a lot of fun."

If there are issues between Brunson and Towns, it's hard to see them on the floor: the two have formed one of the most formidable duos in the NBA and have propelled the Knicks (36-18) into their most legitimate form of championship consideration in quite some time.

The two were at the height of their powers in the Knicks' final pre-All-Star showing: Towns posted a 44-point, 10-rebound double-double while Brunson had 36 tallies, including the game-winning couple, in a 149-148 overtime victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night.

Now, the first pair of Knicks All-Star starters since Walt "Clyde" Frazier and Earl "The Pearl" Monroe will rep alternate sides for Sunday's main event. Brunson is one of "Kenny's Young Stars," as he'll work with fellow rising franchise faces like Cade Cunningham (Detroit), Anthony Edwards (Minnesota), and Jaren Jackson Jr. (Memphis).

On the other side, Towns is one of the domestic talents on "Chuck's Global Stars," which also features international-born talents like Nikola Jokic (Denver), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City), Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio), and more.

While each team is respectively defined by its youth and birthplaces, Brunson is intrigued by how the backcourt-heavy Young Stars will square off against the larger global greats, who also boast the talents of Pascal Siakam (Indiana) and Alperen Sengun (Houston).

"It's going to be different," Brunson said of the matchup. "We've got a lot of guards and they've got a lot of bigs. Either they're going to kill us in the paint or we have to make every shot we shoot."

The matchup between Barkley and Smith's squads will be the first matchup of the night, followed by Shaquille O'Neal's "OGs" facing the winners of Friday's Rising Stars Game coached by Candace Parker. The winners of the first two games will then square off in a winner-take-all finale.

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Geoff Magliocchetti
GEOFF MAGGLIOCCHETTI

Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.

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