Becky Hammon Still Isn’t Buying Brunson As a Star

Evan & Tiki

Audacy

Sports

4.2 • 988 Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2026

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Becky Hammon’s long running critique of Jalen Brunson takes center stage as Evan Roberts and Tiki Barber revisit how her comments evolved from questioning whether Brunson was “that dude” to arguing that smaller stars do not win championships as the lead player. With the Knicks reaching the NBA Finals, the debate becomes less about one old take and more about whether Brunson can finally force critics to admit they were wrong. Evan and Tiki break down the nuance in Hammon’s argument, the historical comparisons to Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Steph Curry, and Isiah Thomas, and why Knicks fans have stayed so fired up about it. The conversation also branches into Giants concerns, a locker room social media controversy involving Abdul Carter and Jaxson Dart, and the potential chaos of a presidential visit to Madison Square Garden during the NBA Finals.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Becky Hammond, of course, used to coach in San Antonio,
0:03.4	legendary women's basketball player and analyst.
0:06.6	And so a few years ago, Becky made critical comments of Jalen Brunson.
0:10.7	Now, I think most people who are opining on the Becky Hammond, Jalen Brunson thing,
0:15.4	haven't actually heard what she said.
0:17.4	So we polled what she said, because this has evolved over the years. It's been like a
0:21.7	running debate. And then we can give like an honest opinion on what she said. So this all started
0:27.4	on Christmas of 2003. That's how long ago it was. It was two and a half years ago. It was Christmas
0:33.0	of 2023. And Becky Hammond was at the desk on ESPN, everybody was breaking it down and the Knicks
0:40.2	were kind of middling at that point. And Becky Hammond talked about how the Knicks lack that
0:47.3	dude. And you'll hear in this clip someone disagree with her. The person who disagrees with her
0:52.6	is Kendrick Perkins.
0:57.8	Ladies and gentlemen, this is how it all started back on Christmas of 2023.
1:02.0	But at the end of the day, they don't have a dude. You got to have a dude. You got to have a 1A dude. And they're missing that at the end of the day if we're just getting down to brass
1:07.7	taxes. I'm sorry.
1:11.2	I didn't want to disagree with Becky today, but they do have that dude. Who? Jalen Bronson. No, he's too small. But here's the thing. And that's, that's the thing. But you know what? He said that about you if you're a hall of favor. I got a philosophy. Can I say my philosophy? Go ahead. If your best player is small, you're not winning.
1:31.0	John Stockton. I got a philosophy. Can I say my philosophy? Go ahead. If your best player is small, you're not winning.
1:30.8	John Stockton, Alan Iverson, Steve Nash, you could go down the list.
1:35.6	Steph Curry.
1:37.3	He's the only.
1:38.2	But he's not that small.
1:39.3	He's like 6'3.
	...

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