Fan Take: Spida over Brunson? Where Does Cap Rank in the NBA

We’re officially 36 hours away from the New York Knicks’ season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The 2025-2026 NBA season couldn’t be any more highly anticipated for Knicks fans. The bench unit is rounding out quite nicely, the progression of young stars has been refreshing, and the odds to win the NBA Finals have never been higher.

In a game where success can’t depend solely on one player, Jalen Brunson has once again found himself leading the cavalry into battle. Coming off an Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Indiana Pacers, Brunson is looking to prove his killer instinct is still intact. Given that key stars in the East — Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton — are sidelined with season-long injuries, the door has never been more wide open than it is now.

But alas, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Donovan Mitchell remain the number one roadblock standing in New York’s way. A team the Knicks couldn’t seem to beat in the regular season, going 0-4 against their conference rivals, the Cavs proved their dominance with the number one seed and 64 wins. Mitchell became an All-NBA First Team guard over Brunson, securing bragging rights and a stronger résumé.

Although fans around the league have voiced that Brunson is the better player over Mitchell, preseason rankings heading into this season tell a tale worth paying attention to. The Ringer and Bleacher Report each ranked Mitchell one spot ahead of Brunson in their respective NBA Top 100 lists. Primarily based on how last season unfolded for each superstar, Mitchell is still being viewed as the underdog in the one-on-one matchup.

It’s pretty difficult to one-up a season in which a player averaged 28.7 points, shot 40.1% from three-point range, and ranked fifth in MVP voting. That’s exactly what Jalen Brunson was asked to accomplish. Dropping from the top five, he finished 10th in voting last season, won Clutch Player of the Year, and still put up 26.0 points and a career-high 7.3 assists. Oh, did we forget to mention he helped his team reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years?

“Brunson managed to generate 5.3 more points per 100 possessions than the league average in the 2,301 minutes he played,” per The Ringer, setting the bar at an all-time high for Knicks players.

As for Donovan Mitchell, it’s more about what he can achieve in a year where the offense will primarily run through his jump shot. Despite averaging fewer points, assists, true shooting percentage, and three-point percentage, the edge may have gone to Mitchell based on the Cavaliers’ 13 more wins and his outplaying Brunson in their three regular-season matchups.

The Ringer’s interpretation of Mitchell over Brunson doesn’t quite give Knicks fans the clarity they hoped for, primarily highlighting their first-round loss while simultaneously asking the same question the Knicks have been faced with: Can he lead Cleveland to the NBA Finals? Bleacher Report simply states that Mitchell has earned his top-10 ranking, but still leaves the door open for questions yet to be answered: “Can Mitchell top 40 percent shooting for the first time outside the arc? Will he be able to lead the Cavs to the NBA Finals?”

Brunson’s analysis report seems to hold the 29-year-old to a higher standard, going further than Mitchell in the playoffs. Bleacher Report hinted that Brunson will have to find creative ways to replicate his offensive abilities under newly crowned head coach Mike Brown’s offensive approach. The Ringer decided to point out Brunson’s defensive gaps, noting his ball dominance as a potential threat to the team’s success. I guess being too good a scorer can still bring out the worst in an individual?

If I were in charge of ranking the two players, I would give Brunson the slight edge over Mitchell for two reasons. While the argument can be made that both players have different pathways to exceeding last season’s success, Brunson’s road map appears much more difficult given the amount of offensive talent the front office has surrounded him with. The second reason is due to how crucial Brunson’s impact is in one-on-one situations with the ball. There are only a few players who could’ve hit the game-sealing three-pointer against the Detroit Pistons in the first round or gone toe-to-toe with Jayson Tatum in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Both players have their individual roles on their respective teams, but in the words of Mike Breen, Jalen Brunson was indeed “born to play basketball.” 

If there was one thing both The Ringer and Bleacher Report could agree on, it’s the players who ranked above Brunson in the top 10. Both lists had Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Luka Doncic ranked 1-4, respectively. Bleacher Report would then follow up their list with Steph Curry at five, Victor Wembanyama at six, and Anthony Edwards at seven. The Ringer would do things a bit differently, putting Ant at five, Wemby at six, and Curry at seven. 

If the conversation were simply about what one individual player can do better than the other, I would give Brunson the edge over Curry, but I would stop there before putting him above Wemby or Ant. Brunson’s advantages compared to others are masked by the team that’s built around him. If Wemby or Edwards score 30-40 points a night, it’s going to be highlighted more than a performance from Captain Clutch. 

Let us know where you think Brunson should’ve been ranked.