New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson is at about 80% to 85% in his recovery from left wrist surgery and will have no restrictions when training camp opens, ESPN’s Vince Goodwill said Friday.
“[Jalen Brunson’s] at about 80 to 85% after the wrist surgery that he had in July,” Goodwill said on ESPN. “He’ll have no restrictions when training camp begins in a couple of weeks.”
The Knicks open camp Sept. 24.
Brunson had the procedure July 7, less than a month after leading New York to its first championship in 53 years. The recovery timeline called for at least two months of rehab, SNY’s Ian Begley reported at the time.
He played through the injury for most of the postseason.
Brunson, who shoots left-handed, first noticed weakness in the wrist during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He later explained that the wrist structure and the tendon itself were intact. The problem was soft tissue that let the tendon slide over the bone when he shot, causing pain and friction.
The injury showed up in his jump shot. Brunson missed 31 of 39 3-point attempts from Game 1 of the conference finals through Game 2 of the Finals.
He still carried the Knicks through both series. Brunson was the unanimous MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals.
Against the San Antonio Spurs, he averaged 32.6 points, 4.6 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 2.0 steals over five games. He scored 45 in New York’s 94-90 series-clinching win in Game 5, a Knicks record for a Finals game, including 15 in the fourth quarter.
Brunson has been working his way back through the summer. A photo posted Sept. 12 showed him shooting at a gym in New Jersey without a brace or wrap on the wrist.
At his charity golf event in July, Brunson told the New York Post that he was not going to let something that seemed minor take him out of the Finals.
Brunson turned 30 on Aug. 31. He averaged 26.0 points and 6.8 assists during the 2025-26 regular season.
He is in the second season of the four-year, $156.5 million extension he signed with the Knicks in 2024.
The Knicks have given no indication that the wrist will limit his workload in the preseason. Should the remaining 15% to 20% take longer than expected, the preseason schedule gives New York room to manage his minutes.
New York opens its title defense at Madison Square Garden against the Philadelphia 76ers in October.
