Jalen Brunson hosted the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, and he did not do it alone. Midway through his opening monologue, the Knicks captain said he would take questions from the audience, and the camera panned to Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Josh Hart sitting in the crowd.
Towns went first, wondering why Brunson was wearing glasses indoors before asking a more practical question. “Can you foul out of SNL?” he asked. Told that he could not, Towns lit up. “So I could be here like the whole show? Nice.”
Bridges wanted reassurance about his wingspan. Brunson confirmed his arms were long, drawing a deadpan reply. “Yet I'll never fly,” Bridges said.
Anunoby's question was a setup. He asked Brunson whether he remembered missing a shot late in Game 4, then asked what happened next. Brunson recalled Anunoby tipping it in. “Oh yeah,” Anunoby said. “That was awesome.”
Hart saved the sharpest one. He asked whether Brunson really took a $113 million pay cut to re-sign in New York, then followed up by asking whether the money was still available. Brunson turned it around, playing a clip of Hart poking him during the NBA Cup ceremony and demanding an explanation. “Because it was funny,” Hart said.
The appearance capped a remarkable stretch for Brunson. He led the Knicks past the Spurs in the NBA Finals in June, delivering the franchise its first championship since 1973, and was named both Eastern Conference Finals MVP and Finals MVP. He averaged 28.4 points, 6.1 assists and 1.2 steals in the playoffs on 46.5 percent shooting.
He is also the fifth basketball player to host the show and the first since LeBron James in 2007. Brunson opened by setting expectations accordingly. “Tonight I'm gonna approach hosting in the same way I approach the Knicks finals game,” he said. “So the first three quarters of the show are gonna be god awful. The last sketch is gonna be amazing.”
KATSEYE served as musical guest. The Knicks open their season against the 76ers on October 20.