The Knicks’ Jalen Brunson’s Relationship With His Jewish Wife, Dr. Alison Marks, Is Just So Beautiful

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The couple named their daughter, Jordyn James, after Alison’s late Jewish father.

via John Nacion/WireImage

There are few more beloved New Yorkers right now than Jalen Brunson, the Knicks point guard and team captain, who led the beloved New York basketball team to the NBA finals for the first time in 27 years.

And who has been there with Brunson since (almost) day one? His wife, Dr. Alison Marks Brunson, a Jewish physical therapist and the mother of their very adorable young daughter, Jordyn.

No matter how the Knicks fair in the finals, their love story is just so winning. Here’s what you need to know about this adorable couple:

Jalen and Alison started dating in high school

The couple attended Illinois’s Adlai E. Stevenson High School in the suburbs of Chicago. They met when Jalen was 15 and Alison was 16, and started dating while in high school, going to homecoming and senior prom together.

The couple stayed together despite going long-distance while attending college, with Alison staying in Illinois for undergrad and Jalen attending Villanova University in Pennsylvania.

Seven years later, in their old high school gymnasium, Jalen would get down on one knee under a floral arc and propose to Alison. She said yes, of course.

Alison has always been supportive of Jaden’s basketball career.

“She’s sacrificed a lot, without really knowing what’s in it for her. She was committed. She wanted the best for myself, and sometimes it felt like she wanted the best for me before her… she’s pushed me to be better,” Jalen said in their wedding video.

They had a ketubah and danced the hora at their 2023 wedding

The couple got married at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago in July of 2023. Alison was walked down the aisle by her mother, and both her two sisters and Jalen’s sister spoke of how happy they were to get a new sibling officially added to their families. The couple signed a ketubah, the traditional Jewish marriage contract, got married under a floral chuppah and danced the hora at the reception. It was a very moving night, a culmination of a decade of love:

Alison lost her Jewish dad in 2010 to pancreatic cancer — a cause that’s become important to her

Alison’s dad, James Marks, died in 2010, at age 49, leaving behind his wife of 23 years, his loving three daughters and his parents. He is buried at Shalom Memorial Park in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Last year, Alison posted a picture of her and her daughter visiting his grave.

“In 2010, my father lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. Ten years later, I officially completed a marathon with Project Purple, an organization that provides critical research funding and financial support to families – something my own family benefited from in 2010,” Marks shared back in 2020. Since then, she’s run many races for Project Purple, raising money for pancreatic cancer research and boosting awareness for the cause on social media.

Their daughter, Jordyn, was born in the summer of 2024, and is named after Alison’s father

A video that’s been going viral this past week shows Jalen and Alison’s daughter, Jordyn James Brunson, adorably interrupting her father’s response to a question at a press conference by screaming “dada!” The toddler can often be seen at Madison Square Garden, next to famous fans like Ben Stiller and on her father’s shoulders post-game.

@nyknicks

Jalen answering to his toughest interviewer 👶💙 #nbaplayoffs #knicks #nba #jalenbrunson

♬ original sound – New York Knicks

Jordyn was born on July 31, 2024, mere days after the couple’s third wedding anniversary. As per Ashkenazi Jewish naming tradition, she was given the middle name James, in honor of her late grandfather. How moving is that?

Alison is super supportive of her husband’s amazing career — and has an incredible one of her own

Back in 2021, Alison graduated as a doctor of physical therapy from Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. She runs her own boutique physiotherapy business out of Westchester, New York. We love a successful power couple!

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Lior Zaltzman is a senior writer at Kveller.