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Becky Hammon keeps snarky Jalen Brunson tone despite Knicks guard proving Aces coach wrong

Nairavoice · Jun 23, 2026 · 2 min read

Becky Hammon keeps snarky Jalen Brunson tone despite Knicks guard proving Aces coach wrong originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Becky Hammon was given a chance to address, if not apologize for, her 2023 comments on New York Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson.

Speaking to reporters prior to the Las Vegas Aces‘ showdown against the New York Liberty on Tuesday night, Hammon addressed her controversial comments that Brunson was too “small” to lead a team to an NBA championship, 10 days after Brunson led the Knicks to their first title in 53 years.

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“I’m never gonna apologize for having an opinion, that’s what ESPN pays me for,” Hammon said.

In December 2023, Hammon said on ESPN that Brunson would have to become an outlier like Stephen Curry to lead the Knicks to a championship. At the time, Brunson was in his second season with the Knicks and had only one playoff series win to his name with the franchise.

“If your best player is small, you’re not winning,” Hammon said at the time.

But now, Hammon has been proven wrong. And while she defended her comments from 2023, she acknowledged that Brunson — who won Finals MVP after the Knicks vanquished the San Antonio Spurs — was “brilliant” in the five-game series.

Becky Hammon on Jalen Brunson leading the Knicks to a championship: “Jalen, all he did was prove history wrong, he proves he’s an outlier, so you can put his name next to Steph Curry and Isaiah Thomas, and I thought he played brilliantly, especially down the stretch.

— Madeline Kenney (@madkenney) June 23, 2026

“He proves he’s an outlier, so you can put his name next to Steph Curry and Isaiah Thomas, and I thought he played brilliantly, especially down the stretch,” Hammon explained.

That response is the best the New York media and Knicks players are going to get upon Hammon’s return to the Big Apple. They have a championship to celebrate, at any rate.