Knicks guard Jalen Brunson speaks at New York City Hall after the championship parade
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson speaks at New York City Hall after the championship parade
Jalen Brunson will make a guest appearance on Law & Order: SVU this fall, as reported by The Associated Press. He is also set to host the Saturday Night Live season premiere on September 26.
It is not basketball news in the usual sense, but it is absolutely Knicks news. Brunson won the Finals MVP after bringing the franchise its first title since 1973, and New York has moved him from beloved point guard to a full-on city figure in about three months.
Knicks championship parade features a Jalen Brunson mural on a city sanitation truck
A Jalen Brunson mural appears during the Knicks championship parade. Credit: Brenden Willsch-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect
Why the Knicks own the city right now
It takes something unusual for a player to cut through New York this way. Plenty of stars get commercials, interviews, and a parade float. Brunson now has the kind of post-title visibility that puts him on the same cultural calendar as everything else people actually talk about in the city.
I get why some fans roll their eyes at offseason celebrity stuff. A television cameo will not fix a bad closeout or get a rebound in May. But it does tell you who has the room’s attention, and Brunson has earned every bit of it.
Jalen Brunson gets to carry both sides of it
The next part is tougher. The Knicks are champions now, which means every stumble will get more air time than it used to. Brunson will be the person people look toward when a game gets tight, a quote lands wrong, or a contender comes after the crown.
He seems built for it. The same player who kept dragging New York back into Finals games has enough calm to handle an episode of television and an October media tour without losing sight of camp.
The city is going to enjoy this run. Then it is going to ask him to do it again, because that is how this place works.