In his second NBA season and second with Dallas, Brunson appeared in 57 out of a possible 75 games, with 16 starts. When coming off the bench, the Villanova product averaged 6.7 points, 2.6 assists and 2.0 rebounds in 14.6 minutes per contest. As a starter, the 6-foot-1 point guard averaged 12.1 points, 5.1 assists and 3.3 rebounds in 26.2 minutes per game. As a whole, he set career highs in assists per game (3.3), rebounds per game (2.4), three-point percentage (35.8) and free-throw percentage (81.3). Brunson also achieved a new single-game career high of 11 assists. He achieved the feat in back-to-back games -- first in a win over the Bucks on Dec. 16 and next against the Celtics on Dec. 18. On Dec. 22 against the Raptors, Brunson posted his first 20-point game of the season, scoring 21 in addition to recording nine assists, four rebounds and one steal. That capped off what was the point guard's best stretch of the season. From Dec. 14 through Dec. 22, he averaged 14.6 points, 9.2 assists and 5.0 rebounds in 31.4 minutes while shooting 45.9 percent from the field, 38.1 percent from three and 90.0 percent from the charity stripe. Brunson achieved his season-high 27 points in a 23-point win over the Hawks on Feb. 1, and he also accumulated eight assists and four rebounds in the contest. Brunson's last appearance was Feb. 22 against the Hawks when he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. He was unable to play in any of Dallas' Orlando seeding or playoff games.

Drafted 33rd overall in the 2018 draft, Brunson played 73 games for the Mavericks in his rookie campaign, starting 38 of them. He averaged 9.3 points, on 47 percent shooting, 3.2 assists and 2.3 rebounds in 22 minutes per game. The Villanova product also shot 34.8 percent on 2.5 attempts per game from behind the arc and hit a season-high three triples eight times. Though he opened the campaign in a bench role, it wasn't long before Brunson worked his way into a more regular spot in the rotation and ultimately a semi-regular starting role. Through the season's first 19 games, he averaged just 12.1 minutes, but that figure grew to 25.2 the rest of the way. March saw Brunson turn in his finest work, scoring in double digits in 14 of 15 games. He averaged 15.1 points with 4.3 assists across 31 minutes per game during that stretch. During that time, Brunson posted the highest-scoring game of his rookie season, a 34-point effort on 12-of-16 shooting against the Spurs on Mar. 12. All in all, Brunson topped 20 points four times and scored at least 10 points on 34 occasions. He grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds Jan. 5 and notched a pair of 10-assist games, double-doubling on all three occasions.