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Becky Hammon has been warned — doubt Jalen Brunson at your own risk.
Hammon, the Las Vegas Aces head coach and an ESPN analyst, stirred controversy on Thursday when she dubbed Brunson, who is listed at 6-foot-2, too small to be a “1A” star capable of lifting the Knicks among the league’s elite in title contention.
“Anyone who doubts him doesn’t really know him,” head coach Tom Thibodeau, who claimed he hadn’t seen the comments before being asked about them, said Friday. “So if you really studied him — and look, you got to do it on the floor. And every opportunity that he’s gotten, he’s proven things. And that probably holds true for most of our players. So just concern yourself with winning. That’s it. Don’t get lost in the noise. It’s always going to be something. Too short, too tall, too thin, too strong, too something — forget about all that. Just get ready to win.”
Brunson, in his second season with the Knicks, has recorded 25.3 points and 5.9 assists per game on 47 percent shooting from the field and 46 percent from 3-point range.
Just last week, he scored 50 points in a Dec. 15 win over the Suns, shooting a perfect 9-for-9 from behind the arc. He was also stellar in last year’s playoffs, scoring 27.8 points per game while leading the Knicks to the second round.
Brunson is important on the defensive end as well, drawing 0.56 charges per game — second-most in the league.
Hammon, who has coached the Aces to back-to-back WNBA titles, was challenged by fellow panelist Chiney Ogwumike that Hammon herself was small as a player and ended up as a Hall of Famer. Hammon responded with her philosophy that “if your best player is small, you’re not winning,” before pointing to John Stockton, Allen Iverson and Steve Nash.
“I’ve heard things like that all my life,” Brunson said. “It doesn’t really change anything.”
Hammon later responded on X to the outrage her comments drew, complimenting Brunson as a “great player” whose game she loves and respects.
But she reiterated her sentiment, doubling down that if a team’s best player is small, they won’t win a championship.
Brunson and the Knicks haven’t let Hammon’s comments rattle them.
“They’re paid for their opinions so it’s just a bunch of chatter,” Thibodeau said. “The only thing that matters is what we think. Whether it’s media, social media, fans, none of that matters. The only thing that matters is what he thinks, what his teammates think, what the coaching staff thinks, what our organization thinks. That’s it. People are always going to doubt. There have been plenty of small guards that have had success.”
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