Jalen Brunson once turned down the kind of Michael Jordan souvenir most basketball fans would keep forever.
The Knicks star was still a child when he met Jordan during the Washington Wizards chapter of MJ's career.
The story works because Brunson was not trying to be disrespectful. He was just a kid who cared more about keeping his jersey clean than understanding the value of the autograph.
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Yonan resurfaced Brunson's story about meeting Jordan through his father Rick Brunson, who was around NBA locker rooms throughout Jalen's childhood.
"After the game I got to go see my dad in the locker room, went to the other locker room with one of their coaches, and I met Michael."
"He's like, you want me to sign your jersey? I said no, you'll mess it up. I was dead serious."
Brunson has explained that he used to collect home-team jerseys at away arenas, something he did with his mother while growing up around the league.
The moment happened when Jordan was with the Wizards and Brunson was about five or six years old, depending on the version of the story being retold.
That small age difference in the retelling does not change the bigger point. Brunson was a child who had normalized NBA access because of his father's playing career.
Rick Brunson's time in the league gave Jalen a childhood filled with arenas, locker rooms and star players. That made a meeting with Jordan feel less impossible than it would for nearly anyone else.
The whole charm is in Brunson realizing years later that he rejected one of the easiest memorabilia wins imaginable.
Now Brunson is a star in his own right, leading the Knicks through a major playoff run. The kid who told Jordan not to mess up his jersey has become someone young fans now chase for signatures.
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