The New York Knicks completed a 21-point comeback win over what has been deemed the ‘G-League Golden State Warriors’ on Sunday, but despite Jalen Brunson scoring a game-high 30 points, he was still the subject of recent harsh criticism.
Speaking on ESPN’s First Take, host Stephen A. Smith said that he blames Brunson for both the Knicks’ overall struggles this season, as well as the team signing Mikal Bridges to a massive contract extension.
“The person I’m blaming most for all of this is Jalen Brunson,” Smith said. “I had the Knicks going to the Finals…and it’s because of what will go down as an absolutely horrific trade if Mikal Bridges continues to look the way that he’s looking.”
—@stephenasmith following the Knicks’ 21-point comeback vs. Warriors 👀
Bridges has scored single-digit points in five of his last six games, and in that span, New York has gone 4-2, but Smith doesn’t believe they are true title contenders.
Jalen Brunson Blamed For Mikal Bridges Signing, Knicks Struggles
Bridges had a hot start to this season, and there were conversations about either him or OG Anunoby being All-Stars. But recently, he’s left a lot on the table, as he scored just seven points on 3/10 shooting in the narrow win over the Warriors.
The Knicks traded five first-round picks for Bridges in 2024 and signed him to a four-year, $150 million contract extension over the summer. While Brunson signed a deal worth less than he could have, Smith believes that Brunson taking a pay cut for the franchise to trade for his ‘friend‘ and former college teammate wasn’t a good move.
“They did that because, instead of waiting a year and signing a five-year, $270 million max extension, Jalen Brunson signed a four-year, $156 million extension the year before, giving the New York Knicks a $113 million discount around that range,” Smith said. “So what do the New York Knicks do? Obviously, he saves them that kind of money: he did it so they could go get his boy.”
While Smith went on to give props to Bridges in some aspects of the game, like his overall availability, he criticized the forward’s recent play and what the Knicks had to give up in the trade to acquire him.
“You can’t let your organization give up that much to get a dude that’s going to ultimately handicap you from building a roster that can compete
“He ain’t an All-Star,” he added. “You can’t let your organization give up that much to get a dude that’s going to ultimately handicap you from building a roster that can compete for a championship.”
On the season, Bridges is averaging 14.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists on 48.8% shooting in 69 games, but in March, those numbers have dropped to ten points, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists on 39.6/30/75 shooting splits.
Knicks Title Hopes Under Head Coach Mike Brown
While the Knicks did give up a lot to both trade for and resign Bridges, he is by no means the only concern facing the roster at this point in the season, a year that has featured some of the highest of highs and lowest of lows in head coach Mike Brown’s first year leading the team.
“You look worse with (Brown) this season than you ever looked with Tom Thibodeau,” Smith said of the Knicks. “How’s this team going to beat Boston? How’s this team going to beat Cleveland?… That was a G-League team they went against last night. You almost lost to them.”
Despite Smith’s claims, New York has just about the same record right now with Brown as they did last season with Thibodeau. But with the issues facing Bridges, Karl-Anthony Towns, concerns on defense and three-point shooting, it’s fair to say that with the other title contenders in the East, they have stiff competition they’ll need to beat in the playoffs.
“It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison — with factors such as schedule, health, etc. — but this Knicks team has hit higher peaks this season compared with last. To the contrary, New York has five combined losses this season to the current bottom five teams in the NBA,” James L. Edwards wrote for The Athletic. ” This team does hit lower lows compared with last season’s squad — as made evident Sunday night in a 3-point win against a depleted Warriors team featuring a bunch of no-names.”
The Knicks do have a lot more depth on the 2025-26 roster compared to in previous years, but as a whole, the notion of the team underperforming based on the talent they have available has been clear all season. Towns’ numbers are down, Bridges is in a slump, lingering injuries have been a bigger issue, and they consistently lose games they’re expected to win.
Brown has made major changes to both the day-to-day game plan and rotation this season, but as a whole, the Knicks getting back to the conference finals feels like their peak this season. Yes, they have the ability, just based on the rostered talent, to win four postseason rounds in a row, but they’ve failed to show they can play at a high level for that period of time.
“We won’t know for sure if the Knicks will perform better in the playoffs this time around,” Edwards added. Only time will tell that.”
Jalen Brunson Targeted For Knicks Struggles, ‘Horrific’ Mikal Bridges Trade