Jalen Brunson Reveals if Becky Hammon's Criticism Motivated Him amid Knicks' NBA Title Run

New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson said that Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon's Dec. 2023 remarks didn't drive or motivate him en route to leading the team to its first NBA championship since 1973.

"I don't want to say it drove me," he said in an interview with Tom Kludt of New York Magazine when asked about Hammon's remarks. "She definitely wasn't the only person that said anything, so I'm not even going to single her out by giving her an answer. I said I didn't care about it then. I'm not going to answer it now. I feel like I don't really have to at this point anymore. I did what I was supposed to do."

Back in Dec. 2023, Hammon, then an ESPN analyst, had this to say about Brunson and the Knicks, who at the time were 16-11 and fifth in the Eastern Conference.

"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 tacks."

Hammon also said (4:40): "This is a game that, the big and bold, it favors that. 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?"

In the end, Hammon was just stating her opinion, which has caught a lot of flak in recent weeks as Brunson led the team to heights it hasn't seen in five-plus decades.

She certainly isn't the only person to think Brunson would be unable to bring the Knicks to an NBA title as their 1A. Brunson apparently heard the critics and let them know during the championship parade.

Brunson finished the NBA Finals averaging 32.6 points per game, including 45 in the series-clinching Game 5 en route to a 94-90 win over the San Antonio Spurs. He clearly proved those critics wrong and frankly doesn't have to say anything to anyone after a Herculean effort.