With the New York Knicks en route to another middling seed in the Eastern Conference, NBA analysts recently have begun to question whether the team’s top-end talent is good enough to keep in place. After Becky Hammon questioned Jalen Brunson as a top dog on NBA Today last month, Gilbert Arenas on Tuesday insisted he cannot take the team seriously until they add a bona fide superstar player. But Arenas’ reasonable take went off the rails once he got to his example of who that superstar should be.
“They have a horrible research team on what talent is,” Arenas said on his Underdog Fantasy-presented YouTube show Gil’s Arena. “Because they should have had stars. New York needs one first. They should be looking for a star, period. I don’t give a f*** who I’ve got to give up. I want a Jalen Green.”
Gilbert Arenas says the Knicks need a real superstar like Jalen Green or Anthony Edwards
“They have a horrible research team on what talent is.”
(🎥 @GilsArenaShow )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) January 2, 2024
Hold on… Jalen Green? The 2021 No. 2 overall pick? The guy averaging career lows in minutes per game and field goal percentage as his Houston Rockets look to re-enter the playoff picture? The guy who just got benched in a fourth quarter by new head coach Ime Udoka?
That’s who Arenas thinks the Knicks ought to target to replace Brunson atop the team’s pecking order?
Arenas went on to include budding Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards in his list of Knicks targets. And it’s possible he was thinking of someone else and accidentally said Green’s name. Either way, it was an odd capper to such a strong take on the Big Apple’s team.
Arenas is no stranger to outlandish NBA takes. He once claimed perennial MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo has not developed his game. He recently criticized Detroit Pistons rookie Ausar Thompson for not scoring enough as a rookie, only for fans to point out that Arenas scored 11 points per game in his first NBA season.
But while Arenas often goes out of his way to generate attention, this monologue was just an airball.
[NBA Central on X, via Gil’s Arena]
