I am of the opinion that the structure and composition of Jalen Brunson’s facial features, a composition which makes him look considerably older than he actually is, literally makes him a better basketball player. Literally.
You think I’m joking right now? NEWS FLASH: I’m being serious as heck. Brunson looks into the mirror every morning and sees somebody who looks like they’re 35 years old staring back at him. He has the face of a grizzled point guard who has seen every offensive scheme and defensive counterscheme under the sun. It would only make sense that somebody who looks like a veteran point guard would eventually start playing like a veteran point guard as well, and that’s exactly what Brunson is doing. The same thing happened with Malcolm Brogdon. That savvy midrange game? It’s the face. The savvy layup game? It’s the face. The doubtless hundreds of mature, yet sexually adventurous, girlfriends? Yep. It’s the face.
Plus, Brunson’s opponents are going to look him in the face and be intimidated by the infinite wisdom that they assume he possesses. They don’t actually read the scouting reports, they just get the coaches to read the reports to them, and besides, the reports probably don’t include things like player’s ages. Opposing point guards probably think they’re facing off against some kind of Andre Miller 2.0 point guard savant and it rattles them.