Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon is facing fresh backlash after the New York Knicks reached the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, reviving her 2023 remarks challenging Jalen Brunson’s ceiling. Hammon says there’s “no air to be cleared,” pointing to he
On a night when Knicks fans were finally ready to believe again, Becky Hammon’s old comments about Jalen Brunson started circulating as if they’d just been spoken.
New York has reached the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999. and the celebration has been loud and emotional across arenas and social media. For some fans. the timing brought an uncomfortable throwback: Las Vegas Aces head coach Hammon has not backed away from what she said about Brunson in 2023. and she doesn’t sound interested in doing so now.
In 2023. during an “NBA Today” discussion on ESPN about the Knicks being “stuck in purgatory. ” Hammon delivered a blunt critique of Brunson’s championship ceiling. She argued New York didn’t have “a dude” or a true No. 1 superstar to win a championship, a take that prompted pushback from analyst Kendrick Perkins, who said the Knicks had Brunson.
Hammon didn’t yield. She said the 6-foot-2 guard was “too small,” pointing to examples including John Stockton, Steve Nash, and Allen Iverson. She added Stephen Curry as the lone exception to that “rule.” Now. with the Knicks headed to the Finals. those words have resurfaced—and so has the question Hammon never really stopped answering: could Brunson be the kind of player who carries a team to a title?.
Hammon’s reaction in the aftermath has been direct, even a little defiant. When asked about the resurfaced backlash, she said she doesn’t understand why her comments were returning when they were made more than two years ago. The heated exchange is still there, but her tone is calm.
“The two best teams are probably in the West, but I’m up for being proven wrong,” Hammon said. “And that’s the other thing. I think Jalen Brunson’s a hell of a player. A hell of a player. I’m speaking historically on the NBA with what I said … I stand by it.”
The sticking point for Hammon isn’t whether Brunson is talented. She repeatedly acknowledges that he can play. The dispute, instead, centers on her historical framing—how she thinks size and star profiles translate to winning at the highest level.
When a media member suggested Hammon was being given a chance to “clear the air,” she pushed back against the premise. “There’s no air to be cleared. I said what I said. (If) he proves me wrong, he proves me wrong,” Hammon said.
Those words land differently now that the Knicks have already punched their ticket to the NBA Finals—exactly the outcome that would force the debate out of theory and into results.
Still, Hammon’s view of where the league’s true strength sits hasn’t changed. “You know who I’m cheering for,” she said, smiling, reaffirming that she believes the two best teams in the league were in the Western Conference.
For Hammon, the noise doesn’t change the fundamentals of her argument. For Knicks fans, though, the resurfacing feels like a reminder that sports takes can age in public—sometimes right alongside the games.
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