Remember when, during a 2023 episode of ESPN’s “NBA Today,” Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon infamously said Jalen Brunson was not a “1A dude” and that he was too small to be the leader of a championship-winning team?
On Thursday, Brunson delivered his rebuttal from the podium at the New York Knicks’ championship parade ceremony, his finals MVP trophy in front of him.
“There’s a lot of people who have a lot of negative stuff to say,” Brunson said. “There’s a lot of people who have their own opinions. But when you prove them wrong, you don’t have to say s–t to them. They don’t deserve it.”
Jalen Brunson speaks at the Knicks championship parade
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Asked in late May if she wanted to walk back her comments before Brunson and the Knicks played in the Finals, Hammon declined. At the time, New York was waiting to see whether its opponent would be the San Antonio Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder, who had posted the top two regular-season records in the NBA.
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“I’m speaking historically on the NBA with what I said,” Hammon said. “I don’t know why everybody’s so stuck on that. I said it two years ago. I stand by it. There’s no air to be cleared. I said what I said.
“He proves me wrong, he proves me wrong. Good for him, but I do think the two best teams are in the West.”
The champion came from the East. And it was the “1A dude,” Brunson, who scored 45 points in a championship-clinching Game 5 win over San Antonio.
But he doesn’t have to say it.