Hall of fame basketball player Isiah Thomas gave his point of view on the viral moment of Las Vegas Aces head coach and ESPN analyst Becky Hammon saying that New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson isn't a “dude” or “1A player.” Thomas took to social media on X (formerly known as Twitter) to repost on Hammon's follow-up post saying she stands by her take on television that NBA teams find more success with bigger guys.

“Facts @BeckyHammon, sadly this game historically does favor the Taller, stronger athlete and when smaller sized people have success it is more impressive in my opinion,” Thomas said. “The 1A player has historically been taller players than myself or Steph we are the outliers.

This means a lot coming from Thomas who led excellent Detroit Pistons teams back in the late 1980s into the early 1990s. He is considered a “smaller player” as he was a point guard, but also won two titles in 1989 and 1990. On the other hand, Thomas said the two most successful players like that are Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry and himself.

Hammon on NBA Today talking about Brunson and Knicks

Becky Hammon next to Knicks logo

This all started when Hammon was on the show “NBA Today” with Malika Andrews and Kendrick Perkins where the topic was on the Knicks. This is where the head coach in the WNBA would say that New York is “well-coached,” but mentioned any great team has to “have a 1A dude and they're missing that.”

“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,” Hammon said. “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.”

She would say that the Knicks are a good team and have been consistent, but are missing the “manpower.” When the other hosts of the show would bring up Brunson, she responded with “if your best player is small, you are not winning…Stephen Curry is the only dude.”

“They don’t have enough personnel, they don’t have the manpower that they need to hang with those guys,” Hammon said, “I think you’re going to get a consistent team like they’ve been, they’re a pretty good team.”

Hammon taking it to social media after the backlash

After the social media backlash in the way of Hammon, she posted on X to set the record straight. She would post singing the praises of the star guard, even going back to his Dallas Mavericks days, saying she remembers giving her former team in the San Antonio Spurs “work.”

“For the record, I love Jalen Brunson's game!! He used to give us/Spurs WORK when he played with Dallas!! I love when undersized players give the league buckets! He's got a great mind and feel for the game,” Hammon said. “Great mind. Great feel. He was passed over in the first round, and then got to the league and showed out, he's not a good NBA player, he's a great NBA player.. much respect.. he's an All Star and will be an All NBA performer.”

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Hammon stands by her comments

However, she would stand by her original comments on the bigger players in the league and their higher likeliness to win a championship compared to the smaller players. She would sign off her statement with a couple of hashtags like “#calmdown,” “#therareexceptionstotherule,” and said “sincerely from a small basketball player.”

“But I stand by my statement that I can't put him in a LeBron [James], Steph [Curry], [Joel] Embiid, type of 1A tier player,” Hammon said. “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-wish it didn't .. but it does.”

Hammon was a basketball player herself who went undrafted out of Colorado State in 1999. She would be in the WNBA from 1999 to 2014, but would also play basketball in Spain and in Russia before going into coaching in 2014 under head coach Gregg Popovich with the Spurs. She would then take a head coaching gig with the Aces in 2021 and achieved early success winning championships in 2022 and 2023.

Whatever the case may be, the 27-year old Brunson is having an exceptional season as he's averaging 25.3 points, 5.9 assists, and four rebounds per game. The Knicks are currently 16-11 which puts them at fifth in the Eastern Conference with a matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks set for Saturday afternoon and again for Christmas Day on Monday.