Jalen Brunson has won over the MSG crowd with his tantalizing performances this season. Finishing as the 2nd seed in the regular season and carrying an injury-riddled team to the 2nd round of the playoffs, the Knicks guard has been phenomenal. While nearly everyone agrees on that, Gilbert Arenas has other beliefs and gets Zion Williamson involved.

A familiar face for his outspoken opinions (and sometimes outlandish), Arenas stands by his earlier statement regarding Brunson – he is not a superstar! After their impromptu postseason exit at the hands of the Pacers, the Gil’s Arena crew got together and co-host, Josiah Johnson, couldn’t help but stir the pot. Detailing Brunson’s stats and finishing fifth in the MVP race, Johnson asks Arenas how impressive Brunson was and whether he is a superstar now. “How many times we going to keep asking?” Arenas said with a frustrated sigh.

“That’s not your play. It’s who you are! A superstar doesn’t get drafted in the second round… it’s a thing!”

He then adds quite a bizarre statement. “Whose name is bigger around the world? Him or Zion? Now what if Zion played the same way? That’s what a superstar is,” Gil said, period. That comparison is going to open a can of worms, for sure. Especially given Brunson’s breakout season and Williamson‘s; not so much. As far as ‘Agent Zero’ is concerned, there are two kinds of superstars – someone who is born and someone who can evolve into one.

Jalen falls into the latter category, as per the 42-year-old. Interestingly, the last time Gil was in a discussion regarding Jalen Brunson and his superstar status, he had someone else as an example. Actually, make that two.

Gilbert Arenas’ Superstar 101 and his intriguing take on Jalen Brunson

“A superstar is something that starts when you are in high school. It just follows you.” This was Arenas’ view of what makes one a superstar, it’s about where it starts. The 3x All-Star had two people as examples to explain his take on what it means to be a superstar. The last time when Johnson put forward the superstar label and Jalen Brunson in one sentence, Gil used the example of LaMelo Ball.

The cast then consisted of 2x NBA champion, Norris Cole and Lexi Brown. When Gil brought up the Melo example, Cole made it a little easier for the viewers when he said, “You can put his name on a rack and people gonna buy that.” Well, that gives one feature of what Arenas believes should be part of a superstar label. Another aspect he draws attention to is how quiet Brunson is.

In fact, he goes to the extent of saying that if Jalen had Josh Hart’s personality as well, it would take him to a whole other level. Or, if Brunson is incapable of developing pizzaz, then the franchise should create something of a personality for him, much like how Kawhi Leonard has the ‘Robot’ persona going for him.

Well, there is a certain shift in Gil’s comments in that he now thinks that the Knicks superstar, without the super, has the potential of developing into one, like how Stephen Curry did. That’s a promising start, wouldn’t you say?