The New York Knicks’ championship win on Saturday disproved an early opinion from Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon about Jalen Brunson’s potential.
After Brunson led New York to its first NBA championship since 1973, many fans revisited comments Hammon made in December 2023. Amid this, three-time NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas weighed in on the matter and supported Hammon’s argument while also heaping praise on Brunson.
Gilbert Arenas Defends Becky Hammon’s Comments on Jalen Brunson
During an appearance on ESPN’s “NBA Today” in 2023, Hammon had argued that Brunson could not be the top player on a championship-winning team.
Following New York’s title win, criticism quickly came Hammon’s way, but Arenas defended her position, explaining that her opinion was rooted in the league’s history and the sample size of small guards who were successful.
“We got Becky Hammon, we know what she said,” Arenas said. “You can’t fault her for it because what she’s going off of is the history of the NBA. And the history said that the comments against Brunson have been only two: Isiah Thomas.”
“The next one was a light-skinned boy named Wardell (Steph Curry),” he continued. “They called him Chef because he cooked. His will and heart, being small, skinny, and frail, made him the second under 6-4 guard to lead a team to a championship.”
“And then here comes Brunson. And in the fourth quarter, the game is won by a player who is determined and who has the will to slow the game down and hyper-focus on moments, shots.”
Hammon’s original argument was that the Knicks could not win a championship with Brunson as their best player because he was “too small.”
At the time of those comments, New York had not advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs since 2000.
The Knicks took a big step forward during the 2023-24 season, winning 50 games and earning the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. They improved again in 2024-25, reaching the Eastern Conference Finals before falling to the Indiana Pacers in six games.
However, everything came together for the Knicks this season after they swept the Cleveland Cavaliers to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals, with Brunson earning Eastern Conference Finals MVP honors.
He averaged 25.5 points and 7.8 assists while shooting 48.7% from the field during the Cleveland series.
Despite that success against the Cavs, Hammon stood by her previous assessment when asked about her early comment.
“I speak from experience,” Hammon said last month. “Allen Iverson got the MVP, and he lost in the finals. I think the two best teams are probably in the West, but I’m up for being proven wrong.”
That challenge was ultimately answered on Saturday when Brunson led the Knicks to end their 53-year championship drought.
Brunson delivered a historic closeout performance in Game 5, becoming only the second player to score at least 45 points on the road in a title-clinching game, matching Michael Jordan’s iconic feat in Utah during the 1998 Finals.
