{"id":763097,"date":"2026-06-17T05:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T05:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/763097\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T05:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T05:45:14","slug":"knicks-jalen-brunson-fired-back-at-1a-critics-in-trading-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/763097\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks’ Jalen Brunson fired back at ‘1A’ critics in trading card"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jalen Brunson might not be clapping back at critics with words, but he\u2019s not against putting it in writing.<\/p>\n

The Knicks captain, fresh off leading New York to its first title in 53 years<\/a>, has refused to address naysayers<\/a> who have said his 6-foot-2 stature would prevent him from leading a team to a title.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t respond to them then, I\u2019m damn sure not gonna respond to them now,\u201d Brunson said moments after New York\u2019s NBA Finals-clinching performance in Game 5 on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"JalenJalen Brunson holds up the NBA Finals MVP trophy after helping lead the Knicks to the franchise\u2019s first championship in 53 years. Getty Images<\/p>\n

But a recently surfaced, one-of-a-kind trading card depicting the Knicks superstar features his autograph, along with the inscription \u201c1A\u201d \u2014 a nod to comments made by some people around the game who questioned whether he could ever be the best player on a championship team.<\/p>\n

The 1-of-1 card, which came from the 2023-24 season, is part of Panini\u2019s National Treasures series highlighting players\u2019 \u201cnotable nicknames.\u201d<\/p>\n

The timing of Brunson signing the card aligns with WNBA legend Becky Hammon, the current head coach of the WNBA\u2019s Aces, shooting down the notion of the Villanova alum being a \u201c1A\u201d caliber star.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re, they\u2019re well-coached, they\u2019re going to be on their defensive game, but at the end of the day, they don\u2019t have a dude,\u201d Hammon said during a December 2023 appearance<\/a> on ESPN\u2019s \u201cNBA Today.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYou gotta have a dude, you gotta have a 1A dude, and they\u2019re missing that at the end of the day if we\u2019re just getting down to brass tacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LasHammon previously said the 6-foot-2 Brunson did not have the stature to be the best player on a championship-winning team. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Co-panelist and ex-NBA player Kendrick Perkins refuted Hammon\u2019s remarks, claiming Brunson is that type of player.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, he\u2019s too small,\u201d Hammon shot back.<\/p>\n

Hammon has been far from the lone critic, with Warriors star Draymond Green<\/a> and sports personality Colin Cowherd among those to doubt Brunson\u2019s championship pedigree.<\/p>\n

However, that tune has changed<\/a> in light of this year\u2019s playoff run, capped off by Brunson notching 45 points in last Saturday\u2019s Game 5, securing Finals MVP<\/a> and his first NBA championship.<\/p>\n

Given recent sales of other 1-of-1 Brunson autograph cards, this \u201c1A\u201d inscription will likely command a pretty penny if and when it becomes available for sale.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday alone, two different one-of-a-kind autographed Brunson cards sold on eBay, with a 2024 Panini card featuring his signature and a piece of his game-worn jersey selling for $18,600.<\/p>\n

Other sales this week have seen similar Brunson cards sell for anywhere from $4,999 to $25,000, according to CardLadder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jalen Brunson might not be clapping back at critics with words, but he\u2019s not against putting it in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,3375,3077,288,7683,6,1220,191,474,66],"class_list":["post-763097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-becky-hammon","tag-fanatics","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-memorabilia","tag-nba","tag-nba-finals","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116763867504374963","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}