The Los Angeles Lakers’ Jared Dudley spoke with The Athletic’s Michael Lee this week, in a wide-ranging interview that covered just about everything going on in the league.
Dudley spoke about concerns he has with the league’s plan to resume basketball post-coronavirus (and how he thinks injuries will be rampant with players unable to train properly), playing with LeBron and Anthony Davis, and a lot more.
He also had a toss-aside comment that will sting fans of New York basketball.
Dudley was talking about the Brooklyn Nets, his former team, when he made a very brief aside that will totally devastate the New York Knicks community, who have already suffered so much.
In the middle of talking about the Nets and their new stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, he paused, then said:
“And let’s be honest, if the Knicks are run right, the Knicks get them easily. It’s not even close. If the Knicks are run halfway decent, they get KD and Kyrie.”
He moved on after that, because what else really needs to be said?
The Knicks went through hoops to create cap space to sign Durant and Irving this offseason, only to watch the two join the team just a few miles away, the Brooklyn Nets. Irving and Durant have never really spoken about why they spurned the Knicks, instead choosing to focus on what made the Nets attractive.
But Dudley’s comments point to a larger, not-so-well-kept secret in the league. If the Knicks were run competently, they’d be with the more historic franchise, the one that plays in Madison Square Garden. But the Knicks aren’t, so they’re in Brooklyn.
Make sure to read the entire interview over at The Athletic.
