Knicks' Jalen Brunson Headlines NBA Cup MVP Favorites

The New York Knicks are one game away from winning their first NBA-related championship in over half a century.

The in-season NBA Cup doesn't quite carry as much weight as the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, but one of the league's most historically relevant teams just has to fend off the upstart San Antonio Spurs to prove to the rest of the league that they're still ready to compete against anyone at any time.

Jalen Brunson's been at the forefront of the Knicks' Cup push, repeating New York's familiar winning formula. The scoring guard can go bucket-for-bucket with anyone, and as the leading option on the team that was considered the likeliest to escape the eastern pool, he's right on top of the list of tournament MVP picks.

NBA .com Cup MVP Ladder:

1. Jalen Brunson
2. Karl-Anthony Towns
3. De’Aaron Fox
4. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
5. Victor Wembanyama
6. Stephon Castle
7. Desmond Bane
8. Luka Doncic
9. Paolo Banchero
10. OG Anunoby pic.twitter.com/kqekaP0VAm
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) December 15, 2025

Brunson has raised his game for the rare chance at elimination basketball, building off of his 35-point game against the Toronto Raptors in the knockout round with 40 over the Knicks' budding rivals in the Orlando Magic.

It's more of the same brand of MVP-caliber play that boosted the Knicks past the group play stage, as they went 3-1 in seeding games to advance to official Cup play for the third time in the tournament's three years of existence. And it's not as if these are fluke performances; Brunson averaged 29.4 points across 18 games in his team's recent run to the Eastern Conference Finals, and he's been even more efficient in the latter part of 2029 to push New York to an 18-7 record.

Sifting Through Cup MVP Competition

His side would appear like they got lucky in drawing the Spurs, who barely held off the Oklahoma City Thunder in handing the reigning champions just their second loss in 26 games, and Brunson found some fortune of his own in the relevant MVP standings.

Spurs star Victor Wembanyama would usually be featured as another one of the most popular favorites to take home an award for anything he was involved in. Despite having played just 130 games in two and a half NBA seasons, the 21-year-old is already a better player than Brunson, who's developed into a regular season MVP candidate in his own right. But after having to miss a month with a calf strain, he got to join a hot San Antonio team for the Las Vegas leg of the Cup games.

San Antonio Spurs Forward Victor Wembanyama — Dec 13, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots the ball over Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso (9) during the third quarter at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

For that reason, he's only at fifth on the MVP favorites standings after a strong comeback game to advance to the finals. De'Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle, the guards who've helped steer the ship in Wembanyama's absence, feature as similar bets to win some personal hardware of their own.

Karl-Anthony Towns is actually the second-likeliest to win the unnamed statuette. His 21.5 points per game scoring average in the last two games can't quite match Brunson's 37.5 mark, but he'll be coming directly off of 29 points on an uber-efficient 9-for-11 shooting performance to see the Spurs. Should he find his stroke at another convenient junction, expect Brunson to have some company in the eyes of the voters.

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