Draymond Green Doubles Down on Becky Hammon’s Controversial Take About Jalen Brunson

Jalen Brunson is the king of New York City right now. He has breathed new life into the Knicks franchise and led the team to its first NBA Finals appearance since 1999. And he has done all of that despite not having the size that Draymond Green believes a championship team's best player should have. Ironically, Green won all four of his NBA titles alongside a 6-foot-2 Stephen Curry.

On his podcast, Green dug up comments made by Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon back in 2023, in which she claimed that a team with a 'small player' as its main player has no chance of winning. She shed light on Brunson specifically, labeling the guard 'too short to succeed'.

As far as Hammon was concerned, Brunson had to win to prove her wrong. And fast forward to 2026, he's made the Knicks the best team in the Eastern Conference in the playoffs.

Green, however, feels that Brunson has a lot more to prove. "I double down on this. Just like Becky Hammon said, 'prove me wrong,'" Green said. "Getting out of the East has never been a sure-fire way to winning a championship, what y'all talking about?"

The Knicks finished third in the Eastern Conference this season, with a 53-29 record, but it was the post-season where they showed how dominant they can be. It took them six games to get past a gritty Atlanta Hawks side, but they steamrolled past both the 76ers and the Cavaliers, winning 4-0. And the star of the show? Brunson.

He's averaged 26.9 points, shooting 48% from the field, and was named the Eastern Conference Finals MVP.

Brunson is now just four wins away from proving Hammon and Green wrong. And if he does, it will be interesting to see how Green explains away a championship led by a player he once suggested was too small to win one.

The 6-foot-2 guard has been waiting for this moment for a long time. When asked how long he had been envisioning a trip to the Finals as a Knick, he replied, "Since I signed."

Truly, Brunson, since joining the Knicks from the Dallas Mavericks in 2022, has made the Knicks a relevant and feared franchise again.

The one exception for Becky Hammon in her take

When Hammon made her statement in 2023, Curry was already a proven winner. He had two MVPs, a Finals MVP, an All-Star Game MVP, and most importantly, four NBA championships to his name.

Because of that, Hammon had to exclude Curry from her wild take. In her eyes, the sharpshooter from Golden State was the only exception to her wild take. "If your best player is small, you're not winning… Steph Curry is the only dude."

It's something Green would have to attest to, as well.

Green was an invaluable piece of the Warriors' dynasty alongside Curry, Klay Thompson, and head coach Steve Kerr. They ran like a well-oiled machine, with Green serving as the defensive cornerstone during their championship runs. Thompson was a shooter who simply couldn't be cooled down when he got hot. But Curry? He was the engine that made it all work.

Of course, Curry is one of the greatest basketball players of all time, and Brunson has miles to go before he's even in the conversation. But if it can work for one 6-foot-2 guard with great handling and shooting, why can't it work for the other with a similar skillset?

In terms of supporting casts, there are some similarities as well. Curry had Green and Thompson throughout his title runs, while Brunson has a couple of players who offer parts of what Green brought to the Warriors. OG Anunoby provides defense and better shooting, while Josh Hart contributes with his rebounding, playmaking, and hustle on both ends of the floor.

The Knicks also have a tall floor-spacer who can also crash the boards in Karl-Anthony Towns. Aside from that, they also have several flamethrowers who can come off the bench to provide scoring, such as Landry Shamet and Jordan Clarkson.

There's no reason for Green to laugh off the possibility of Brunson actually winning the whole thing.

The San Antonio Spurs pose a daunting challenge, yes. But it's one Brunson would love to overcome, both to deliver a championship to New York for the first time in over five decades and to silence those who still question whether a player of his size can lead a team to a title.