Championship rings come with a side benefit: the right to cash receipts. And one by one, the Knicks are doing exactly that. First up was Stephen A. Smith. Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson brought him onto the live Roommates podcast, and to his credit, Smith didn’t dodge- he sat there and admitted he’d been wrong. No hedging, no spin. But there’s one name still missing from the apology tour. And on Friday, the crowd said it before Hart could.

Twenty minutes into Smith’s appearance, Hart brought up the elephant in the room and the room answered for him, breaking into chants of “Bec-ky! Bec-ky!” Nobody needed it spelled out. Knicks fans have had Becky Hammon’s words memorized since 2023, when she declared on ESPN, “If your best player is small, you’re not winning.” Two years, a Finals MVP, and a 53-year drought later, she still hasn’t budged.

“I will give him credit for coming up here and admitting fault,” Hart said, nodding to Smith. “Because I’m not naming names — I’m still waiting for somebody—”

He didn’t even get to finish the sentence. The crowd finished it for him.

“I’m still waiting for somebody to say they were wrong about someone who led our team to a final championship in 53 years. I’m still waiting for something. I know they have media availability, so we’ll be waiting for that apology.”

“If you’re wrong, you’re wrong. If you’re scared to be wrong, you don’t belong in this business. You’ve got to say what you feel. You’ve got to say what you feel in the moment that you feel,” said Smith on Hammon.

Even co-host and high school friend of Josh Hart, Matt Hillman wholeheartedly agreed. He stated, “He’s (JB) not going to say it, so I’m glad you did.”

And it’s correct that Jalen Brunson, over the course of the playoffs and even after winning, has not publicly responded to the criticism from Hammon or other analysts.

In December 2023, Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon stated on ESPN’s NBA Today that the Knicks lacked a “1A dude”.

She claimed that because Brunson is a small guard, he wasn’t capable of leading a team to an NBA title.

Before the NBA Finals, Hammon refused to clear the air and instead doubled down on her comments. She noted that she was speaking on historical NBA data, citing smaller guards like Allen Iverson as an example.

The WNBA legend felt stars like AI can win individual accolades like MVP but can’t win the championship.

She concluded, “He proves me wrong, he proves me wrong. Good for him.”

Josh Hart settled his beef with Stephen A. Smith

The Hart-Smith tension had been brewing much earlier. During a frustrating stretch of the 2025-26 regular season, Smith, a native New Yorker and self-described Knicks fan, was extremely critical of the team, especially Mikal Bridges’ scoring struggles. When Bridges was held scoreless in a playoff game against the Hawks, Smith’s commentary grew even sharper.

Hart pushed back hard. In March 2026, he went off:

“For me, Stephen A., as a part-time Knicks fan, needs to shut the hell up. He barely knows guys that are on the team.”

Smith had fired back on First Take, essentially telling Hart to sit down and be quiet instead of defending his teammates so aggressively. Now, with the Larry O’Brien trophy in hand, that beef has been settled, at least for now.

Mikal Bridges got the last laugh, too. During a celebratory Instagram Live after the title, he sarcastically thanked Hammon, saying her comments only added fuel to Brunson’s fire.

Through it all, Brunson himself stayed classy and mostly silent, letting his play do the talking. He led the Knicks to their first championship since 1973 and earned Finals MVP honors without ever publicly responding to the skeptics.

Like Hammon, Stephen A. Smith was skeptical of Brunson and the Knicks on multiple occasions. But the Knicks proved him wrong, and he conceded on national television that he was wrong.

Not just that, Smith apologized to Brunson once again and even got booed as he admitted he was wrong on the special episode.

“I’m a grown a– man. I was beyond wrong. I apologized to this brother on national television. I apologize to you. I apologize to the entire Knicks organization. Let me be very, very clear. I have never been happier to be wrong in my life.”

The Knicks’ championship has already proved the doubters wrong. But it’s the cherry on top that the doubters are apologizing for not just critiquing but writing off Jalen Brunson.