Jalen Brunson Raises Questions Over $302 Billion Company News Through Villanova Connection

In 2018, three Villanova teammates cut down the nets together after a national championship run, with almost no attention paid to the 6-foot-2 guard who logged just 16 total minutes across 12 games that tournament. Matt Kennedy’s college legacy was academic, not athletic - the NCAA Elite 90 Award for the highest GPA among Final Four participants, earned while his more famous teammates chased NBA futures. Eight years later, those roles have quietly reversed in a different arena, and the story is trending because of how Jalen Brunson responded to it.

Bloomberg’s Bei Hu reported that the New York Knicks’ championship season has become a genuine business profit for Goldman Sachs Group’s wealth-management division. Several Knicks players, including Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges, are reportedly among the bank’s private wealth clients.

Central to the arrangement is Kennedy. He is now working inside Goldman’s asset- and wealth-management unit, reuniting professionally with the same Villanova core that won two national titles together.

Short Squeez on X wrote: “Several Knicks players, such as Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges have reportedly become Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management clients to reunite with former Villanova teammate Matt Kennedy as their financial advisor.”

Brunson saw the post and responded, not with a denial, but with something more interesting. “Matt is my guy,” Brunson wrote, “but I need your sources.”

The response confirmed the relationship with Kennedy. It also declined to confirm the specific financial arrangement being reported.

New York broke a 53-year championship drought in June, and the roster collectively received more than $9 million in bonus money. Star players like Brunson typically added significant additional income through post-championship endorsement deals.

Goldman’s spokesperson addressed the reporting: the bank “brings its whole team to its clients” and declined to confirm specific client relationships, which is standard practice for wealth management firms bound by client confidentiality. Kennedy also declined to comment when reached.

After a brief on-court role at Villanova, Kennedy interned at Goldman Sachs. He then moved into fixed income, covering instruments including collateralized loan obligations, and shifted into wealth management roughly two years ago.

A flat denial would have shut the story down completely. Instead, “Matt is my guy” is an affirmative confirmation of the personal relationship with Kennedy - the two were teammates through Villanova’s 2016 and 2018 championship runs, and Brunson has never been shy about crediting that program’s culture for shaping his career.

The pattern Bloomberg’s reporting described is not new to Wall Street. But it is increasingly common as firms like Goldman recognize the value of former athletes who understand locker-room trust dynamics that traditional advisors often can’t replicate.

Marc Nachmann’s asset- and wealth-management division oversees more than $4 trillion across public and private markets. And stories like this one function as informal advertising for that unit regardless of whether Brunson, Hart, or Bridges ever confirm the details beyond what has already circulated.

Brunson’s own financial decision-making has already drawn scrutiny once this year. He signed a below-market extension with the Knicks in 2024, reportedly leaving over $100 million on the table relative to his max value, in exchange for cap flexibility that helped New York build a championship roster around him.