Jalen Brunson’s blunt response to Isaiah Hartenstein’s Knicks dig

Isaiah Hartenstein claims he wouldn’t have allowed Trae Young to celebrate the entire Knicks logo in the Garden in the Hawks’ NBA Cup quarterfinal win on Wednesday.

Jalen Brunson’s answer: We’ll never know.

“Isaiah is not here,” the Knicks’ captain said Saturday after practice.

A Knicks villain dating back to the 2021 playoffs, Young stopped by the Knicks logo and picked up and rolled fake dice as if he were playing craps in Las Vegas in the final seconds of the Hawks’ victory.

Hartenstein, who spent the last two seasons with the Knicks before signing with the Thunder this offseason, told reporters that if he was still a Knick“I wouldn’t have let him roll the dice in midfield. I would have done something. I’ve always had a love for New York.”

Brunson reiterated that the Knicks’ biggest mistake was letting the Hawks win the game and not allowing Young to celebrate.

“Do I have a problem with that? Yeah, but he won, they won,” Brunson said. “So why put fake and fake energy into doing something like that when you could have done it to try and win the game? That’s just my point of view on it.”

A recent ESPN report listed a timetable for Mitchell Robinson’s return as late as late January or into February from left ankle surgery.

That was news to coach Tom Thibodeau.

“I haven’t heard that,” Thibodeau said. “He’s following a protocol, going step by step and when he’s ready, he’s ready. He’s fine, he’s not cleared for training yet. As soon as he’s cleared for training, we’ll have a better idea about a timeline. But we’ll be patient and let him work through it. There’s a lot of steps he has to take first.”

Ariel Hukporti (sprained left ankle) has been able to practice “a little bit,” Thibodeau said.

He remains out against the Magic on Sunday night.