Jalen Brunson had already signed his new contract with the Knicks when he visited Yankee Stadium last month and met Aaron Judge on the field.
At the time, Judge presented the star guard a signed pair of cleats with the message, “Keep running the city.”
Judge didn’t know Brunson would soon become captain of his team, and now that he has, the center fielder had another message.
“I would tell him to follow the same advice I got,” Judge said when asked Thursday at the Stadium what he would say to Brunson. “Which was, ‘Don’t try to do too much. Keep doing your thing.’ What he’s done so far for the Knicks has put him in position to become captain. ‘Keep doing the work.’ ”
Like Brunson, Judge was already considered the de facto captain in The Bronx before he signed his nine-year, $360 million deal in December 2022.
But with the mega-deal, Judge got the official title.
Now that Brunson inked his four-year, $156.5 million extension, he and Judge are in similar boats.
Judge said not much has changed in regard to what he does in the clubhouse, despite the additional role.
And he insisted he doesn’t feel any extra weight on his shoulders.
“I don’t think so,” Judge said. “It’s definitely an amazing title. I’m sure he’d say the same thing. But you’ve just got to focus on what you do on the court or on the field and try not to think about the other stuff.”
Judge also knows the importance of being a captain in New York.
“It’s probably one of the biggest accomplishments of my life,” Judge said. “It definitely means a lot to me and my family. I’m sure it’s the same for him.”
Judge was among current and past New York captains to take part in a video to congratulate Brunson that was played at Thursday’s press conference, two days after the naming of Brunson as Knicks captain became official.
In addition to Judge, Derek Jeter, David Wright, John Franco, Aaron Rodgers, Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, Eli Manning, Mark Messier, and Brian Leetch, along with former Knicks captain Allan Houston, as well as Knicks legend Walt Frazier passed along messages to Brunson.
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