Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart were at it again, indulging in a series of friendly jabs at each other on the Roommates Podcast. It began when Brunson admitted that Hart was stronger than him, but not more athletic. However, the moment Hart took the liberty to call himself “quicker” than his teammate, Brunson took it personally.
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Both Hart and Brunson are important players for the New York Knicks. And they share a deep bond that began from their college days. However, regardless of how friendly they are, when the spirit of competition takes over, one has to be ‘better’ than the other.
And this competition revolved around speed. Hart told Brunson that he’s “not quick or fast.” This came as a surprise to Brunson because the point guard believes he is quicker with the ball.
“We have the slowest pace in the league because of you, cause you’re slow as hell,” Hart added while looking pointedly at Brunson, who countered immediately.
Brunson boasted that the Knicks have the second-best offensive rating in the league and that he plays a significant part in it. However, that statistic is not exactly accurate. At 119.2, the Knicks are the third-best, behind the Cleveland Cavaliers (121.9) and the Denver Nuggets (119.7).
“[The second-best offensive rating is] not because of you,” Brunson added. The two players continued to argue over who was faster, even though there was an objective way to figure it out.
Jalen: "Josh is stronger but he is not more athletic than me."
Josh: "I'm definitely more athletic that him…stronger, faster, quicker."
Jalen: "Quicker?"
Josh: "You are not quick..you are not quick or fast."
Jalen: "Who's faster with the basketball?"
Josh: "me…we have… pic.twitter.com/ylUvXZJi68
— Let’s Talk Knicks (LTK) (@LetsTalkKnicks_) February 20, 2025
If we look at average speeds, Brunson with 4.25 is slightly better than Hart, who has an average of 4.14. Brunson leads in average offensive speed as well with 4.67 to Hart’s 4.39.
Hart has a better average speed in defense with 3.87 to Brunson’s 3.78. They’re pretty much neck-to-neck in all categories on the advanced stats sheet. So an argument was natural, especially since it was about a specific attribute in their games.
However, the discussion which began as a light banter, continued as neither of them was willing to back down.
After a minute or so, Brunson called out Hart for overthinking on the floor and making bad passes. He mocked the forward’s poor eye for a pass, saying, “The reason why you think that is because your mind is running at 1,000 miles a minute.”
Brunson further teased his teammate: “You don’t know where to go. You jump in the air and make some BS passes to god knows who.”
Even a passionate rant couldn’t get Hart to agree. “I’m still faster than you,” he replied.
In most cases, this friendly tiff could’ve escalated into a heated argument. But since it’s the two Villanova alums, the matter eventually subsided like all of their previous jousts.
