Becky Hammon Defends Her Criticism of Knicks' Jalen Brunson: Not a '1A Tier Player'

Becky Hammon defended her criticism of New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson after the Las Vegas Aces head coach faced backlash from her initial comments.

Hammon clarified that she believes Brunson is a great player, especially for his size, but she stood by her comments that he is not a top-tier player in the NBA like LeBron James, Stephen Curry and others.

Hammon's post on social media came after her comments Thursday on NBA Today, where she claimed Brunson can't lead the Knicks to postseason success and become a top-tier player because of his size.

Hammon said the Knicks have a few of the right tools, but ultimately they can't count on Brunson to guide them.

"They're, well-coached, they're going to be on their defensive game, but at the end of the day, they don't have a dude," Hammon said (2:07 mark). "You gotta have a dude, you gotta have a 1A dude and they're missing that at the end of the day if we're just getting down to brass taxes."

Hammon, who played in the WNBA from 1999 to 2014, believes that basketball favors bigger players, and for that reason, Brunson will never be apart of the top tier.

"This is a game that, the big and bold, it favors that," Hammon said (4:40 mark). "I love Jalen Brunson, but you're going to put him on the level of a 1A? You're putting him with Giannis, Embiid, Steph?"

While Hammon believes Brunson can't be a top-tier player, Brunson is certainly looking to prove her wrong. Brunson is averaging 25.3 points and 5.9 assists per game, leading the Knicks to a 16-11 start. Just last week, Brunson dropped a career-high 50 points.