2018-19 Panini Donruss - Rookie Jerseys Jalen Brunson RPA IP Auto CGC Authentic

The Tunnel Signature That Started Us as Knicks Fans, The Game That Sealed It

A Mavericks rookie jersey auto, signed by a Knicks captain in an Orlando tunnel — and the reason our whole family ended up in San Antonio for Game 2 of the Finals.

Brunson was drafted by the Mavericks in 2018, the same class as Luka Doncic, and this Rookie Jerseys patch auto goes all the way back to that season. But we didn't get it signed back then. We got it signed this past season — 2025-26 — the one and only time the Knicks came through Orlando, with Brunson as their captain.

He was one of the guys who stopped for pretty much every fan waiting in the tunnel that night, no rush, no attitude, just signing whatever people put in front of him — including a five-year-old card from a team he doesn't play for anymore. That's how a Mavericks rookie auto ended up signed by a Knick.

At the time, we weren't even true Knicks fans yet. That changed over the rest of that same season, watching Brunson drag New York through a genuinely historic run to the Eastern Conference. And it changed for good the day Tito Nelson called and asked if we wanted to go to a game tomorrow night.

Nelson is my wife's brother — "Tito" to our sons, the museum's junior collectors, since that's Filipino for uncle. He's a lifelong Knicks fan who was there the last time New York made the Finals, back in 1999, also against San Antonio. The game he was calling about was Game 2 of this year's Finals. Knicks-Spurs. He told us it had been over twenty years since he'd seen his Knicks on that stage, and at his age, he figured he might not get another shot at it. He wanted to share it with our family instead of going alone. So he put his youngest son and the four of us on a private jet to San Antonio, and that was that.

Game 2 is the one we'll be telling people about forever. Brunson missed a mid-range look with just over nine seconds left, and Victor Wembanyama had the rebound and the whole floor in front of him to seal it. Instead he threw a blind pass to Stephon Castle without looking — right off Castle's back. Brunson scooped up the loose ball, drew the foul, and split the free throws. Spurs called timeout, inbounded to De'Aaron Fox, kicked it out to Wembanyama for the final look — and he missed. Knicks 105, Spurs 104. Final.

We flew home the next morning as Knicks fans. Not bandwagon ones — the kind that trace it back to a captain who stopped in a tunnel in Orlando to sign a five-year-old card from a team that isn't his anymore.

The Knicks went on to win the title in five, their first since 1973, with Brunson taking Finals MVP. We could hold onto this one for a long time — but we'd rather keep the memories and let another die-hard Knicks fan take the artifact home.