RJ Barrett is less than a month away from finding out where he'll get selected in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Barrett, who's expected to be picked in the top three of the draft, was a guest on ESPN's First Take on Thursday and was interrogated by commentator and lifelong New York Knicks fan Stephen A Smith.
Smith demanded that Barrett make his case as to why the Knicks' fanbase should be confident in him should he end up in New York, and Barrett delivered his reasoning as cool as you'd like.
"The biggest thing is my confidence," Barrett told Smith." I'm built for this. I've been working since I was young.
"So, I'm not really worried."
Barrett helped power Duke to a 32-6 record alongside consensus No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson.
The Canadian averaged 22.6 points, 7.6 rebounds shooting 45% from the field, earning first-team All-American and first-team All-ACC honours. He also won the Jerry West Award, given to the country's best shooting guard.
Currently, all signs are pointing towards the Knicks selecting Barrett with the third overall pick on June 20th. The First Take crew spent much of the time talking about the pressures of playing in the Big Apple.
Barrett's been there before. He's played at a high level in high school, college and internationally as he helped Team Canada win their first ever World Championship in 2017.
ESPN's Max Kellerman asked Barrett if the chatter around his game would bother him and the Canadian had an easy reply:
"I feel like being at Duke this year is definitely going to help, everything that we went through," Barrett said.
"Also, I don't care what people say — I don't care."
