The Knicks sit in fifth in the Eastern Conference, and at least one pundit thinks they’re destined to be stuck in the middle of the pack.
Las Vegas Aces coach and ESPN analyst Becky Hammon said the Knicks are trapped in the second tier of teams in the conference and that they don’t have “a dude” to rise to the top — even going as far to say star point guard Jalen Brunson isn’t enough.
When asked by “NBA Today” host Malika Andrews about if the Knicks are destined to be a middle-of-the-pack team, Hammon, the former New York Liberty player who led the Aces to back-to-back WNBA titles, said the team’s roster is not built up well enough for them to become an elite squad.
“They don’t have enough personnel, they don’t have the manpower that they need to hang with those guys,” Hammon said of the Knicks’ chances to hang with the best teams in the league. “I think you’re going to get a consistent team like they’ve been, they’re a pretty good team.
“They’re, 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. 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.”
With a few chuckles, co-panelist Kendrick Perkins vehemently disagreed with Hammon, saying the Knicks do have a “dude” in Jalen Brunson.
The guard, who last week had a historic 50-point night for the Knicks on the West Coast road trip, ranks 15th in the league — one spot ahead of LeBron James — with 25.3 points per game, but lacks one thing, according to Hammon.
Size.
“He too small,” Hammon responded to Perkins.
Her theory is that if a team’s best player is on the smaller side, they’re not winning a title, though she said Warriors star Stephen Curry is the exception to the rule.
On X, Hammon responded after the video clip went viral on social media.
She complimented his skill, going as far as to say he’s a “great” player and an All-Star, but she was not going to walk back her original sentiment.
“I stand by my statement that I can’t put him in a LeBron, Steph, [Joel] Embiid, type of 1A tier player, and that if your best player is the smallest player on the court, you (probably) won’t win a CHAMPIONSHIP. This game favors the tall,” she wrote, signing off as a “Small Basketball Player” herself.
Whether Hammon is proven to be right, Brunson is in the middle of what looks to be an All-Star campaign for the Knicks as the team sits at 16-11.