NEW YORK — The Knicks bet big on Jalen Brunson.

Back in the summer of 2022, when the Knicks signed Brunson to a four-year, $104 million contract in free agency, there was hardly a guarantee the point guard would blossom into a franchise-changing superstar.

At 6-2, Brunson was undersized, and he’s always relied more on IQ and footwork than elite speed or athleticism.

And while he showed flashes during a breakout 2021-22 season, Brunson had spent the majority of his career to that point playing behind or alongside the ball-dominant Luka Doncic, starting only 127 games over four years with the Dallas Mavericks.

But the Knicks believed enough in Brunson to invest in him as their floor general, and over the four years that followed, they continued to double down, methodically building a roster to complement his unique profile.

Now, with the Knicks returning to the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years, that bullish bet on Brunson is paying off — big time.

“It means a lot, the belief that the organization has in me, from [owner James] Dolan down to [president] Leon [Rose], [William Wesley], the coaching staff and obviously my teammates,” Brunson, 29, said Monday night after being named MVP of the Eastern Conference finals.

“It’s something I haven’t really put into perspective and thought about, because as I said before, we’re still writing our story. I think in due time I’ll be able to answer that in full entirety, but I like the journey that we’re on right now.”

Brunson won two national championships during his three seasons at Villanova, and as a junior in 2017-18, he won the Naismith and Wooden awards as college basketball’s consensus top player.

But skepticism about Brunson’s upside caused him to fall to the second round of the 2018 NBA draft, where the Mavs selected him at No. 33.

Brunson proved to be a useful player off the bench during his first three seasons, and before his fourth year, he hoped to sign a four-year, $55 million extension with Dallas.

But, as Brunson detailed during a 2024 appearance on the “All The Smoke” podcast, the Mavericks wanted to wait and revisit contract talks during the season.

His price went up after an injury to Doncic pressed Brunson into the starting lineup, where he demonstrated his potential in a larger role. By the time Dallas’ offer was finally on the table, it was too late.

Brunson then averaged 27.8 points per game over a 2022 first-round playoff series victory against the Utah Jazz, during which Doncic missed three games due to a calf strain.

During the Mavs’ run to the Western Conference finals that year, Brunson averaged 21.6 points per game over 18 playoff appearances, all starts.

The Knicks, meanwhile, hired Brunson’s father, Rick Brunson, as an assistant coach that June. Rick was a longtime client of former agent Rose, and he had served as assistant under then-Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau in Chicago and Minnesota.

About a month later, Jalen Brunson signed with the Knicks, filling a huge void on a team that had used Kemba Walker, Derrick Rose and rookie Immanuel Quickley at point guard the previous season.

The Knicks were later docked a 2025 second-round pick after the NBA deemed they tampered in their free-agent pursuit of Brunson.

It was an infinitesimal price to pay.

In a featured role, Brunson has averaged no fewer than 24.0 points in any of his four seasons with the Knicks.

They’ve won at least 47 games and at least one playoff series in each of those four seasons. Last year, the Knicks went to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000. Next month, they will play in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.

In the 21 seasons before Brunson’s arrival, the Knicks had an NBA-worst .401 winning percentage and made just five trips to the playoffs.

“His work ethic is second to none,” head coach Mike Brown said after the Knicks’ sweep-clinching 130-93 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 on Monday night.

“On top of that, he’s pretty even-keeled. Never gets too high, never gets too low. And when your leader is that way — which you need to have, especially when you hit adversity — it’s easy to get everybody else to follow.”

Brown has compared Brunson’s leadership style to those of Tim Duncan and Stephen Curry — all-time greats whom he coached as an assistant — due to what he describes as a “quiet strength.”

This postseason has been a perfect example.

Brunson is averaging 26.9 points and 6.6 assists per game in this playoff run, alternating as the Knicks’ primary scorer and facilitator based on the team’s needs or matchup in a given game or series.

Whenever he’s been asked about the offense running more through Karl-Anthony Towns at different points in the playoffs, Brunson has simply deferred to his desire to win.

“The magic’s in the work; he’s a testament of that,” Towns said of Brunson. “He believes in that. He showcases that every single day to all of us and drives us all to be better.”

Even as Brunson emerged as a perennial All-Star — this season marked his third consecutive selection — critics doubted whether the Knicks could win at the highest level with an undersized point guard as their best player.

But not the Knicks.

They took big swings to build a cohesive roster around Brunson, trading for Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges — two of Brunson’s college teammates — as well as a premium two-way threat in OG Anunoby and an All-Star running mate in the 7-foot Towns.

Brunson signed a four-year, $156.5 million contract extension in July of 2024, accepting a major discount when he could have waited and received a far larger payday the following offseason. That’s allowed the Knicks to keep their core together and to continue to supplement it — an important advantage in a salary-cap sport.

Shortly after Brunson signed that extension, the Knicks named him the 36th captain in team history.

With four more wins, Brunson would join an even more exclusive list — as one of the few players to lead the Knicks to a championship.

“There’s no other player, no other guard,” Bridges said, “that I want to be along[side other] than JB.”

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