What a lot of people didn't notice because of his raw scoring numbers and those two games against Utah is that Brunson played pretty poorly next to Luka in the playoffs.
From Utah game 4 onward: 19.5 points and 3.3 assists per game on a dreadful eFG% of 49.4% while posting a defensive rating that was worse than everybody on the team except for Marquese Chriss and Boban who barely played.
https://www.nba.com/stats/players/advanc...DEF_RATING&dir=-1&Season=2021-22&SeasonType=Playoffs&TeamID=1610612742&DateFrom=4%2F22%2F2022&DateTo=7%2F1%2F2022
Basically he was an inefficient chucker who provided nothing else next to Luka. I actually think the current team has more scoring punch right now without Brunson than that team did with Brunson with THJ returning and the addition of Wood. The defense is still going to need some help though
From Utah game 4 onward: 19.5 points and 3.3 assists per game on a dreadful eFG% of 49.4% while posting a defensive rating that was worse than everybody on the team except for Marquese Chriss and Boban who barely played.
https://www.nba.com/stats/players/advanc...DEF_RATING&dir=-1&Season=2021-22&SeasonType=Playoffs&TeamID=1610612742&DateFrom=4%2F22%2F2022&DateTo=7%2F1%2F2022
Basically he was an inefficient chucker who provided nothing else next to Luka. I actually think the current team has more scoring punch right now without Brunson than that team did with Brunson with THJ returning and the addition of Wood. The defense is still going to need some help though