Culture 4 min read By Trevor Kendall
Jalen Brunson Opens SNL Season 52 With Knicks Teammates
Jalen Brunson hosted the 52nd season premiere of Saturday Night Live, bringing Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart onstage for a monologue that roasted the Knicks captain.
Jalen Brunson opened the 52nd season of Saturday Night Live by turning his monologue into a Knicks celebration, with four of his teammates joining him onstage at Studio 8H. Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart appeared during the segment, trading jokes with the New York Knicks captain in front of a live audience.
The appearance came after the Knicks won a championship, giving the sketch show a victory lap to open its new season. Brunson, the 2026 MVP, swapped quips with his teammates during the monologue, according to the episode's coverage. The group did not simply stand in support; the segment was built around the starting five roasting one another, with Brunson as the target.
Before the teammates took the stage, Kenan Thompson appeared in character as ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith, setting up the basketball-themed comedy. The bit leaned on the familiar dynamic of a star player surrounded by a confident supporting cast, a setup that played directly to the Knicks' recent success and the team's visibility in New York culture.
The season premiere also included the show's traditional cold open, which featured Ramy Youssef as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump. The two characters discussed the storm hitting the East Coast, the Knicks' championship and other topics, weaving the team's title into the broader political satire of the episode.
Brunson's hosting turn places him in a long line of athletes who have fronted Saturday Night Live, a slot that often doubles as a mainstream cultural victory lap. For the Knicks, the monologue offered a rare blend of sports and entertainment: a championship team appearing on network television not as athletes in uniform but as comedic performers comfortable enough to be the butt of the joke.
The episode marked the beginning of the show's 52nd season, with the Knicks' starting five serving as the centerpiece of the opening monologue. The appearance also underscored how quickly a championship can translate into broader pop-culture currency, moving a basketball roster into the same studio where actors, musicians and comedians typically headline.
For Knicks fans, the segment functioned as a nationally televised victory lap. For SNL, it was a season opener built on a timely sports storyline, one that arrived with a built-in audience already familiar with the players' personalities and the team's recent run. The monologue did not require viewers to know the Knicks' season record; it relied on the chemistry among Brunson, Towns, Bridges, Anunoby and Hart, who turned a host's opening remarks into a group performance.
The show's 52nd season premiere aired Saturday, with Brunson as host. The Knicks' championship provided the throughline for both the monologue and the cold open, tying the episode's comedy to a New York story that has dominated the city's attention. The teammates' appearance lasted only a portion of the monologue, but it gave the premiere its most specific cultural hook: a basketball team stepping into sketch comedy and playing along with the joke.
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