Newly crowned NBA champion Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks will make his hosting debut on “Saturday Night Live” when the new season launches next month.
Brunson, who helped bring the Knicks an NBA championship after 53 years in June, is set to make his hosting debut when the new season of “Saturday Night Live” premieres Sept. 26, where pop girl group Katseye will be the musical guest.
The star made an MVP appearance at Game 5 in the NBA Finals when he scored 45 points in a win against the San Antonio Spurs, per ESPN.
Over the past decades since its debut in 1975, “Saturday Night Live” has had its fair share of athletes as hosts, some of which include Bill Russell, Deion Sanders, Derek Jeter, Charles Barkley, Peyton Manning, Travis Kelce, and Tom Brady.
The NBC sketch comedy show airs at 11:30 p.m. ET and streams live on Peacock.
45-Point Game 5 Heroics
It’s been a long wait for the city that never sleeps; 53 years of anticipation are finally over.
Jalen Brunson, named Finals MVP, scored a series-high 45 points in the closing victory. This included a go-ahead floater with 65 seconds left.
His 45 points are the most by a Knick in a Finals game, a fitting record for such a momentous night.
According to ESPN, the Knicks captured their first championship since 1973 by overcoming poor starts to the game and executing a series of impressive comebacks against the Spurs.
New York fell behind by as many as 16 points and was still down by 10 with eight minutes remaining before launching another late rally.
This became a theme throughout the entire series: the Spurs building leads while the Knicks refused to give up. The Spurs led by 16 points, marking the fifth straight game in the series that they had a double-digit advantage, yet they still couldn’t finish it.
