One New York Knicks alum is reacting this week to the recent criticism from another.
During an open discussion about the Knicks on his new podcast “7 PM in Brooklyn,” retired 10-time All-Star Carmelo Anthony took a swipe at RJ Barrett. The 23-year-old forward Barrett recently got dealt by the Knicks to the Toronto Raptors in the OG Anunoby trade.
“He’s just a bland player bro,” said Anthony of Barrett. “That’s not a shot. That’s not disrespect … It’s just like, he’s good, he get it done sometimes, but he’s not an exciting player. You don’t know if he got four [points] or 26.”
Anthony said that he thought Barrett’s personality was “bland” as well and criticized Barrett for the way that he supposedly “demanded to be a part of the offense” in New York.
Over the weekend, Barrett responded to Anthony’s comments.
“I think it was funny,” said Barrett, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “Because the next day I had four points. The game before I had 24, so he was almost right … He’s a Hall of Famer, man.”
Anthony made his comments on Jan. 11. Barrett had four points in a loss to the Utah Jazz on Jan. 12, sandwiched between 24 the game before and 24 the game after.
Regardless, that is a very classy response from Barrett. Having been born in 2000, Barrett grew up on the Anthony era of basketball and clearly did not take Anthony’s comments as a slight.
The ex-No. 3 overall pick Barrett did not always fit in perfectly in New York. But Barrett, a native of Canada, is now thriving with the Raptors, averaging a career-best 20.2 points a game for them since his debut earlier this month.
With the Knicks sitting at 9-2 themselves since their move for Anunoby, it appears that both sides may have won the trade.
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