After dominating the Cleveland Cavaliers with a 4-0 sweep in the Eastern Conference Finals, the New York Knicks reached the Finals for the first time since 1999. Once again, team captain Jalen Brunson found himself at the center of the glory. However, Stephen A. Smith once greatly doubted Brunson’s inclusion in the Knicks, the team he roots for. 

Following the NBA team’s victory, an old video of the prominent anchor from the 2022 draft started resurfacing, which proved his intuition about Jalen Brunson was wrong.

“I’m tired, y’all. I’m so tired. I slept two hours last night. Two damn hours of tossing and turning. Of staring at my ceiling. On the night that the NBA Draft was held in New York City at Barclays Center, a night in which the New York Knicks had the 11th overall pick in the NBA Draft, with a ton of holes to fill, with shooters and point guards and rim protectors all over the board, my New York Knicks came away with nothing. Nothing at all.

“Trading their first-round pick away. And for what? To go all in on clearing cap space in hopes of signing Jalen Brunson? Look, I mean, Jalen Brunson is a nice player. Hope the brother comes. Hope he gets paid. But the Knicks are acting like he’s KD (Kevin Durant).”

To be fair, while Stephen A. Smith launched a tirade at Nicks picking Brunson, he accepted that the point guard is actually a “nice player.” What apparently bothered the prominent sports anchor was the price the New Jersey native got during the free agency draft in 2022. According to the reports, the New York Knicks handed out a lucrative $104 million contract to Brunson. That decision, Smith found to be questionable for his favorite NBA team.

Hence, the anchor compared the New York Knicks giving Brunson such an astronomical contract to Kevin Durant, who’s one of the highest-paid NBA players.

Despite the criticism surrounding his massive deal, Brunson proved himself to be a clutch player for the Knicks. He silenced the critics by averaging 24 points per game during his first season and then added three All-Star selections. Following this, the point guard averaged 25.5 points per game in the Eastern Conference Series and eventually won the Larry Bird Trophy in the finals, and also became an unanimous MVP.  

Alongside him, other team members such as Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges also played under Brunson’s leadership to help the New York Knicks ascend to the NBA Finals. That said, Stephen A Smith is not the only one whose previous claims are resurfacing.    

Becky Hammon addresses past criticism of Jalen Brunson after NY Nicks reached the finals   

Like Stephen A. Smith, the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon once also criticized Jalen Brunson. In 2023, the prominent coach argued that the Jersey native’s 6’2” stature could be too small for a point guard. However, she only mentioned Stephen Curry as an exception to this rule, while still calling Jalen Brunson a “hell of a player.”

So, after the New York Knicks headed to the Finals, her previous statement resurfaced once again, with fans calling her out. As the backlash grew, the Aces coach decided to address the situation and claimed that she actually didn’t need to clear anything up if Brunson proved her wrong.

“There’s no air to be cleared. I said what I said,” Hammon stated, as per USA Today. “(If) he proves me wrong, he proves me wrong. You know who I’m cheering for.”

That said, after the New York Knicks reached the NBA Finals this season, they are set to face the winner of the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs. In that case, we’d soon know whether the Knicks can lift the trophy or not.