Brunson will achieve NBA first when he takes the court for Knicks in Finals on Wednesday

New York Knicks superstar guard Jalen Brunson will join an exclusive club alongside his father, Rick, when the NBA Finals begin on Wednesday.

Jalen and Rick will become the first father-son duo to play for the same team in an NBA Finals in league history, per NBA Communications, after Rick represented the Knicks in the 1999 NBA Finals - also against the San Antonio Spurs.

Rick spent nine seasons in the NBA from 1997-06, where he played for eight different teams. He appeared in 17 games with New York in the strike-shortened 1998-99 campaign, and an additional nine games on their run to the NBA Finals. Rick totalled six points in 18 minutes across nine games in a minor bench role, and played just 10 minutes against the Spurs in the Finals.

Those Knicks would go on to lose the series 4-1 against the Spurs, who were led by fledgling superstar Tim Duncan. Those Spurs would go on to win five championships over the next 16 seasons, with Hall of Famers Duncan, point guard Tony Parker, guard Manu Ginobili and head coach Gregg Popovich combining to form one of the great dynasties in league history.

Jalen’s Knicks will try to avoid the same fate as his father’s version of the team. These Knicks coasted to the Finals, wining 12 of 14 games through their first three series with an average margin of victory of just over 19 points. Those results have led to questions in the media about whether the Knicks are a truly great team, or if they’ve just feasted on inferior opponents in the East.

“When there’s negative things being said about you, it’s important to ignore them. When there’s positive things about you it’s easy to be able to read them to make you feel good, but you can’t do one and not the other,” Brunson said earlier in the week. “So just block out as best you can.”

“Lot of questions, lot of talk about how great we are, how great we’ve been. All that doesn’t matter,” guard Mikal Bridges said. “We’ve just got to worry about being ourselves and stay locked in and go win.”

While father Rick’s contributions to the 1999 Finals were minimal, son Jalen is expected to be in control of the offence for the Knicks. The three-time All-Star has averaged 26.9 points and 6.6 assists per game through these playoffs.

You can watch Game 1 of the NBA Finals HERE on TSN, with coverage on Wednesday, June 3 available across the TSN Network, TSN.ca and the TSN App beginning at 8:30p.m. ET / 5:30p.m. PT.