The High School Photo Jalen Brunson and Ali Still Cherish
Before Jalen Brunson was lighting up Madison Square Garden, carrying the Knicks and becoming one of the NBA’s biggest stars, he was just a high school kid getting ready for prom with his girlfriend.
And honestly, the photo is almost too wholesome. 😂❤️
There was no packed Madison Square Garden, no Knicks jersey, no NBA cameras following his every move and certainly no championship pressure. Just Jalen Brunson and Ali Marks dressed up for one of those high school nights that most people assume will eventually become a distant memory.
For Brunson and Ali, however, that old chapter never really disappeared.
The couple began dating in 2013 while attending Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. They were teenagers when their relationship started, long before Brunson became the face of the New York Knicks.
And among the sweetest reminders of those early days is their senior prom photo.
Before the Fame, There Was Prom
Brunson eventually shared a photo of himself and Ali getting ready for senior prom in 2015.
His caption was wonderfully simple. He called Ali “the best date anyone could ask for.”
Looking at that now, it is almost funny to think about what was still ahead of them.
At the time, Brunson was already a highly regarded young basketball player, but neither teenager could have known exactly where the next decade would take them.
Brunson would go on to Villanova, win two national championships, enter the NBA, become an All-Star-level player and eventually become the leader of the Knicks.
Ali would build her own career in physical therapy, earning a doctorate from Northwestern University.
And somehow, through all those changes, the teenage couple kept finding their way back to each other.
That makes the old prom picture more than just another throwback.
It is basically a tiny time capsule of the beginning of a relationship that eventually led to marriage and a family.
The Relationship Survived the College Years
The romantic comedy version of a high school relationship usually goes something like this: two teenagers fall in love, graduate, go to different colleges and then discover that long-distance relationships are much harder than sharing a school hallway.
Brunson and Ali apparently decided not to follow the script.
When Brunson went to Villanova University, Ali attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They had to maintain their relationship from different states while Brunson pursued his basketball career and Ali continued her education.
That was an important period for both of them.
Brunson became a star at Villanova and won national championships in 2016 and 2018. He then entered the NBA when the Dallas Mavericks selected him in the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft.
Ali continued working toward her own professional goals and eventually earned her doctorate in physical therapy in 2021.
So while Brunson’s basketball career was taking off, Ali was building a career of her own.
The prom photo suddenly looks even more special.
The two teenagers in that picture had no idea they were looking at the beginning of a relationship that would eventually survive college, an NBA career, a major move to New York and parenthood.
Then Came the Most Perfect Proposal
If someone were writing a movie about Brunson and Ali, the proposal would probably be accused of being too cheesy.
In September 2022, Brunson proposed to Ali at the basketball gym of their old high school.
Yes — the same high school where their relationship began.
The proposal came shortly after Brunson was inducted into Stevenson High School’s athletic Hall of Fame.
Think about that for a second.
The teenager who once took his girlfriend to prom eventually returned to the same school years later and asked her to marry him.
Hollywood writers might have rejected that storyline for being too obvious.
Real life apparently didn’t care.
From Prom Night to Wedding Day
Brunson and Ali got married on July 29, 2023, at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago.
By then, their relationship had lasted nearly a decade.
And Ali even found a way to bring their high school history into the wedding.
For one of her wedding looks, she wore the dress she had worn to senior prom in 2015 — the same era represented by the old photographs that fans continue to love. She reportedly described the dress as iconic.
That detail might be one of the best parts of their entire story.
Most people put a prom dress in a box, take a few nostalgic photos and eventually forget about it.
Ali basically said: “You know what? We’re getting married now. Bring the dress.”
😂❤️
It was a beautiful way to connect their teenage years with the life they had built together.
And Now They Have Their Own Family
The story didn’t stop at marriage.
Jalen and Ali welcomed their daughter, Jordyn James Brunson, on July 31, 2024.
That means the couple who once posed together for high school photographs now have a daughter growing up watching her father become one of the most recognizable players in basketball.
And that may be what makes the old prom photo so meaningful.
When fans see Brunson today, they see the Knicks star.
They see No. 11.
They see the player taking big shots, leading New York and handling the enormous expectations that come with playing for one of the NBA’s most passionate fan bases.
But that old photograph shows a different version of him.
It shows Jalen before the NBA spotlight.
Before the fame.
Before the huge contracts.
Before the Knicks.
Just a young man standing beside the girl he had been dating since high school.
Some Photos Become More Valuable With Time
There are millions of photographs taken every day that mean very little a few years later.
Then there are photos that somehow become more meaningful as time passes.
The Brunson-Ali prom photo belongs in that second category.
At the time, it was simply a picture of two high school sweethearts heading to prom.
Years later, it became part of a much bigger story — one involving college basketball championships, an NBA career, marriage, parenthood and a life together in New York.
And perhaps that’s why fans connect with their story.
It isn’t just about an NBA superstar and his wife.
It is about two people who knew each other before the fame and continued growing together as life changed around them.
So the next time Knicks fans see Jalen Brunson walking onto the court at Madison Square Garden, it is worth remembering that long before the cheers from New York, there was a high school gym, a prom night and one very special date.
And if Brunson was already calling Ali “the best date anyone could ask for” back then, it looks like teenage Jalen may have actually known what he was talking about.
Not bad scouting for a future NBA superstar. 😂🏀❤️