Aces head coach (and former Spurs assistant coach) Becky Hammon was not sold on Jalen Brunson being the best player on a championship team. In her eyes, history already showed that “small guys” were incapable of leading their teams like centers or wings.
At 6’2″, Brunson is already on the shorter side, and his game relies heavily on perimeter jumpers. Nevertheless, he proved everyone wrong by leading the Knicks to a championship this year, disproving Hammon’s take in the process. In response, Hammon praised Brunson for proving her wrong, but she refused to offer any sort of apology.
“Jalen, all he did was prove history wrong,” Hammon said, via Madeline Kenney. “He proves he’s an outlier, so you can put his name next to Steph Curry and Isiah Thomas, and I thought he played brilliantly, especially down the stretch. I mean, he was that 1A dude, but apologize? I’m never gonna apologize for having an opinion. That’s what ESPN pays me for.”
Even when the Knicks were at the peak of their powers, Hammon always had doubts that the Knicks could finish the job and win the title as currently constructed. She thought they would need at least one more superstar to complete the team, and that Brunson was better as a sidekick than the primary scoring option.
To her credit, history says she’s right. Dating back to 2010, Stephen Curry is the only point guard to lead his team to a title. Other than him, it’s LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, and Jayson Tatum. Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is widely perceived as the next one up, but he still has to wait for his moment, as Brunson’s Knicks got in the way.
This year, they shocked everybody by going 16-3 in one of the most dominant playoff runs in modern NBA history. All the while, Jalen Brunson led the way with averages of 28.4 points, 6.1 assists, and 3.2 rebounds per game on 46.5% shooting and 36.3% shooting from three. He was named Finals MVP for his efforts, which included an impressive close-out performance in Game 5 of the Finals, when he dropped 45 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals on 51.9% shooting and 57.1% shooting from three.
In the end, Brunson made Hammon look foolish, but she’s not taking back anything she said. Rather than try to walk back her opinion or move the goalposts, she simply accepted she was wrong and owned up to her take. As for whether or not she sees the Knicks going back-to-back, she has yet to answer.
While Hammon’s stance on small guards leading title teams is unlikely to change, it’s hard to deny what Brunson and the Knicks just pulled off. If they can run it back next year with some minor roster upgrades (which they fully intend to do), there’s no reason to think the Knicks can’t win the Finals again. If/when that moment comes, it will be interesting to hear what Hammon has to say, but Brunson won’t take much stock in it anyway, as someone who has the ultimate self-confidence.
