Knicks in Five … from New York, it’s Saturday night.
New York Knicks fans enjoyed a late night appetizer for its upcoming championship defense over the weekend, as captain, point guard, and reigning NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson hosted the 52nd season premiere of fellow metropolitan staple “Saturday Night Live.”
Brunson became the fifth basketball player to host the long-running sketch comedy series, joining Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and LeBron James.
How did Brunson do in the move from 8th Ave to 8H? We rank all 10 Saturday sketches to feature Brunson below…
1. Opening Monologue
From a Knicks fan’s perspective, Brunson’s opening monologue served as perhaps the perfect closer to championship celebration season.
It featured inside jokes that no doubt had the metropolitan faithful pointing at their screens DiCaprio-style, beginning with Brunson acknowledging the Knicks’ early struggles, which would often give way to dominant and historic comebacks.
“Tonight, I’m going to approach hosting the same way I approach a Knicks Finals game,” Brunson informed the audience. “So the first three quarters of the show are going to be God-awful. The last sketch is going to be amazing.”
Perhaps anticipating the blowback of a stoic, humble star of the game getting the call from the kooky world of “SNL,” Brunson took a few intentional fouls in the form of self-deprecation: from the get-go, Brunson joked that his excitement was palpable despite his eternally calm “voice and face” and engaged in a bait-and-switch that denied fans a Manhattan melody.
“By now, you’ve all heard me talk about [the Finals win], but you haven’t heard me sing about it,” Brunson said as the SNL band gives him a piano flourish. “Obviously, I’m not going to.”
Anticipating the upcoming return to Madison Square Garden (“Where Taylor and Travis got married!”), Brunson took the opportunity to gain national atonement from one of his “biggest doubters”: In the first of several collaborations with longtime “SNL” staple Kenan Thompson, Brunson interacted with a caricature of ESPN’s resident Knicks fan/critic Stephen A. Smith, shooing him off when he’s informed the penance will last at least “another seven minutes.”
True to the form of a point guard that has averaged nearly seven assists a game in New York, Brunson then opens things up to a Q&A that reveals the rest of the Knicks’ starting five seated in the audience. Once the audience joy dies down, Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges respective poke fun at foul trouble and wingspans before the show does the impossible and gets OG Anunoby to smile, a grin brought about by reminding Brunson about his memorable miss before the ex-Ontarian tipped in the game-winning double at Game 4 of the Finals.
The show, however, is stolen by Brunson’s recurring collaborator Josh Hart, who asks why he hasn’t gotten a cut of the $113 million his fellow former Villanova Wildcat left on the table to stay in Manhattan. Brunson, however, flips the script on Hart, grilling him on both his unusual celebration at the NBA Cup victory (“Because it was funny!”) and his botched open layup that could’ve given the Knicks an earlier lead in the famous fourth Finals game (“AI be looking so real these days!”).
The opening monologue is often the one “SNL” segment that’s guaranteed to be tailor-made for fans of the host. With less than a month separating Brunson’s turn and opening night, getting the starting five back in Manhattan for one last round of national adoration feels like the perfect last dance before the title defense begins.
2. High School Musical: The New Generation
Considering the fact that pretty much anything remotely popular at the turn of the century gets a revisit these days, it’s perhaps shocking that Disney’s “High School Musical” franchise has remained mostly untouched.
That’s remedied in a pre-taped sketch featuring Brunson as a transfer student who quickly flips the sneaker-to-song script that “HSM” is known for.
Welcomed in by a player obviously inspired by Zac Efron’s “HSM” protagonist (Jeremy Cullhane), Brunson quickly asserts his dominance on the musical madness, refusing to give in to the lyrics until it’s time to steal the wanna-be Troy Bolton’s love interest. Subsequent song attempts are likewise stifled by Brunson’s character, who resorts to slam dunks and flagrant fouls to further establish his place in the high school hierarchy.
While probably not as memorable as fellow Knick Carmelo Anthony’s turn in the Bill Hader/Andy Samberg led “Laser Cats” sketch back in 2011, Brunson no doubt provided plenty of social media material for New Yorkers, particularly a scene where he steps over Cullhane’s character while declaring “Call me daddy.”
The dominant defensive display should no doubt make life brutal for the first victim of a Brunson block or technical come next season.
3. Office MVP
Brunson’s first sketch in character is technically not in character, as his office drone, “Darius Barcelona,” is revealed to be the Knicks’ point guard in disguise.
Poor Darius is unable to properly to dispose of his sandwich wrapper Brunson-style, airballing three attempts at a garbage can amidst increasingly nonsensical excuses for another try (such as adding two seconds to the clock because “it was Daylight Savings Time”), much to the chagrin of his exasperated co-workers.
A viral moment for 2026-27 Knicks fans no doubt strikes when one female co-star (Sarah Sherman) sarcastically rues that Darius is out of wrappers, leading Brunson to testily declare “Am I, b***h?” before revealing a full tray of makeshift balls, which he proceeds to continually airball (“Kobe!”) before another co-worker (Mikey Day) literally tries to slap him out of it.
At this point, Brunson reveals himself to his dumbfounded co-workers (“That’s why we saw him kissing Jalen Brunson’s wife!”) and his desire to become renowned as an office shooter (which James Austin Johnson remarks isn’t “a great thing to say”). Granted one last opportunity and egged on by both the characters and the audience, Brunson channels his inner Finals and sinks the final attempt, leading to an “MVP” chant among his now adoring co-workers.
This sketch moves up on the list because of some small-screen magic that will only add to Brunson’s metropolitan legend: in an Instagram Story posted after the episode’s airing, “SNL” writer Dan Bulla revealed that it was literally impossible for Brunson to hit the first few attempts because there was a blower fan at the bottom of the on-set trash can.
The fan was turned off for the final try, with cue cards ready in case of a Brunson miss. The winner of the NBA’s 2024-25 Clutch Player of the Year title, however, showed that there’s no offseason for big shots, rendering the alternate ending completely moot.
4. Respectacles
As is the case of many an “SNL” sketch that plays after “Weekend Update,” this “Shark Tank” parody relies a little too much on its singular joke: a pair of inventors (Cullhane, Ben Marshall) continuously displaying that their showcased item, a pair of glasses that emits a loud alarm if they stare at a woman’s breasts, works.
Brunson (and, to a lesser extent, Johnson’s take on Kevin O’Leary) does somewhat salvage the sketch by playing series regular Daymond John (complete with tophat) who immediately asks for the glasses work for “[butt]” as well. Once confirmed (evidenced when Brunson’s character Damon leers at Sherman’s portrayal of Lori Greiner), Brunson offers a $50 million investment.
Brunson gets bonus points for landing the approval of the real-life figure he’s lampooning: John took to social media to praise the point guard, who apparently “nailed” the high-profile investor’s “obsessions” flawlessly, down to his “love for a woman with a beautiful Derrière.”
5. Young ‘Rell (Deleted)
One of Brunson’s more prominent characters was removed from the final broadcast but was fortunately allowed to give on through a social media release.
While it winds up being a more prominent display of “SNL”‘s current cast, Brunson gets some great bits in as “Young ‘Rell,” a rapper who lands in financial hot water for granting literally every member of his entourage a paying position, much to the bewilderment of his accountant (Ashley Padilla).
Part of the reason why the sketch works is that “Young ‘Rell” has a similar purpose to the one Brunson has on the Knicks, one where he’s the stoic straight man with a hint of entertaining and controlled chaos attached to him.
That’s perhaps best on display when Young ‘Rell is informed that he’s keeping on one employee (Jack Wickline) that does nothing but announce everyone’s name … and promptly gives her a raise for fulfilling such a purpose.
Fortunately, Brunson ran into no such issues at his day job, as almost every bit of championship representation will be back for the title defense.
6. Airport Massage Chairs
In another sketch that overstays its one-trick welcome, Brunson portrays David, one of two men who enjoy an airport massage chair a little too much, leading to consternation from security and fellow travelers alike. It’s essentially an excuse to have the eternally composed Brunson emit humorously suggestive sounds before it’s time to cut to commercial.
Brunson adds a little charm to the proceedings by breaking character slightly to laugh at the increasingly unhinged reactions of his companion, Patrick (Day), cracking just enough to be endearing rather than distracting.
The true star of the sketch is probably Thompson, an airport security guard perplexed by both the increasingly intense reactions and the ridiculous connecting flight that Brunson and Day took (“Boston to Pittsburgh to Providence to Denver to Tampa Bay”).
7. Old Friend
The final sketch of the night is one that should appeal to Knicks fans on paper: Brunson attempts to relax at the team’s Tarrytown facility (where Anunoby and Bridges’ jerseys are hung up in the background), but is frequently interrupted by a pair of deadbeats.
One (Thompson) claims to be Brunson’s childhood coach (one that tries to con the point guard into funding an adult film) while the other (Kam Patterson) tries to pass as Brunson’s father. As far as final sketches go, it’s passable enough, as it gives Brunson an opportunity to play an increasingly frustrated straight man.
Knicks fans will no doubt appreciate the stray caught by assistant coach Rick Brunson, as Jalen can instantly tell that Patterson’s claim is false because his real father is “bald as hell.”
8. Men’s Support Group
Brunson’s character, Phillip, and a good bit of “SNL”‘s active male population air a very specific set of grievances, as all of their romantic partners were brought on stage at Chris Brown and Usher’s recent tour.
It’s a sketch that mostly sidelines the host, Brunson, though he does get a hilariously risque punchline: “When I spent $1200 for that meet-and-greet, I never actually expected her to greet his meat.” Brunson also generates an audience chuckle when he admonishes another confessor, played by Patterson, for complaining about “talented lightskins.”
9. Parent-Teacher Conference
The late portion of the show begins with a sketch that puts Brunson in a funny wig and leaves her really unsure what to do with it.
Brunson, as “Lulu Jones,” stars alongside Thompson as a pair of cousins who serve as a “sensual support system” for a single mom (Padilla) called to a parent-teacher conference. The sketch tries to focus on Thompson frequently forgetting who the child in question is and Padilla insisting that their characters are not polyamorous, but Brunson manages to sneak a few good one-liners in, “I can’t have children … you see, I’m the man, and the woman would have to have the child.”
10. Dream Academy Season 2
It’s safe to say that Brunson’s latter attempt at pre-recorded glory went better than the original.
In what’s essentially a showcase for musical guest KATSEYE, Brunson briefly plays a choreographer early in the sketch, which depicts a fictional season of the reality series that documented the girl group’s formation.
It’s another sketch that puts Brunson in an unconventional costume and doesn’t really capitalize on that further, forcing Knicks fans to be a little patient before getting back to the crossover comedy.
