Jalen Brunson’s Wife Opens Up About the Weight He Carried After Becky Hammon’s ‘Too Small’ Comments

Jalen Brunson just led the Knicks to their first NBA title in over 50 years. He won Finals MVP. He silenced a whole lot of doubters. But according to his wife Ali, the noise was very real — especially one particular voice from a few years back.

Ali Brunson sat down with New York magazine and talked about the pressure her husband felt after WNBA legend and current Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon said Brunson was “too small” to be the best player on a championship team. Hammon said that in 2023, before Brunson had really arrived as a superstar. She argued that unless you’re Steph Curry, a small guard can’t be your go-to guy and win it all.

“I think there was a lot of pressure,” Ali said. “If he wasn’t able to achieve this, it proves everybody right that New York needed someone different and they made the wrong choice in Jalen.”

That pressure? It’s gone now. New York beat the San Antonio Spurs in five games to close out the Finals, and Brunson averaged nearly 30 points while running the offense against a Spurs team featuring 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama. The irony of winning a championship against the tallest player in the league — a guy who makes “too small” arguments look silly — wasn’t lost on anyone.

Brunson himself was more measured when asked about Hammon’s comments. He didn’t bite on the idea that her words fueled him. Not directly, anyway.

“I don’t want to say it drove me,” Brunson said. “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.”

But then he added: “I feel like I don’t really have to at this point anymore. I did what I was supposed to do.”

That’s about as close as you’ll get to a mic drop from a guy who prefers to let his game talk. Brunson signed with the Knicks as a free agent ahead of the 2022 season, and the criticism followed him from day one. He was too small. He was overpaid. He wasn’t a real number one option.

Four seasons later, he’s taken New York to the playoffs every year. They lost in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2025 to Indiana. One year after that, they finished the job.

The funny thing about all those “too small” takes? They don’t really age well when the guy holding the trophy is 6-foot-2 and the guy guarding him is a full foot taller.