Watch: Inside Knicks’ Jalen Brunson and Superfan Mariska Hargitay’s Sweet Bond
Jalen Brunson has his head in the game.
Indeed, the New York Knicks point guard caught nothing but net as he made his Saturday Night Live hosting debut for season 52’s highly anticipated premiere, where he showed off his hooping skills in a sketch reimagining High School Musical.
In the parody sketch High School Musical: The New Generation, Brunson, portraying a new student at North High School, tries out for the basketball team, hilariously dubbed the Cougars. While the rest of the team isn’t thrilled about the idea of a newcomer trying out, Jake (Jeremy Culhane) encourages his peers to let him try out.
Little did he know Brunson’s character would have fabulous hooping skills as he repeatedly blocked Jake’s shot until he eventually fell to the ground. Later in the sketch, Brunson repeatedly dunked on Culhane before pantsing him in front of his teammates.
After wiping the floor with him, Brunson stepped into his role as alpha on the team, telling a crawling Jake to “kiss the ball, call me daddy now.”
But Brunson’s acting skills wouldn’t be the only standout moment from the evening. After all the athlete’s fellow starting five teammates Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges also made the episode a night to remember.
ICYMI, Brunson, who was awarded NBA Finals MVP, led the Knicks to victory when they won the NBA championship on June 11, marking the team’s first win since 1973.
“This summer, I helped the Knicks win the NBA championship,” he said in his monologue. “By now, you’ve all heard me talk about it, but you haven’t heard me sing about it… And obviously I’m not going to.”
However, he shared he was open to a few questions about the accomplishment, which is when the camera panned to the rest of the team’s starting five in the audience.
Towns—no stranger to a foul on the court—kicked off the round of questions, asking, “Can you foul out of SNL?” to which Brunson replied, “No, I don’t think so.”
Smiling ear to ear, the center and power forward added, “I could be here, like, the whole show? Nice!”
Up next, Bridges asked with his arms stretched out, “Are my arms like really long? They’re too long, right?”
After Brunson affirmed his assessment, chiming in, “Yeah, buddy. You got a great wingspan,” Bridges added disappointedly, “Yet I’ll never fly.”
And Brunson can always count on his teammates to keep him humble. After all, Anunoby reminded the 30-year-old of a near-miss on the court.
Photo by: Rosalind O’Connor/NBC via Getty Images
“Remember in Game Four when you took that shot in the end and you missed it?” he asked, before Brunson responded, “Yeah, you tipped it in.”
Anunoby added, “Oh yeah, that was awesome.”
Lastly, Hart candidly asked the SNL host, “Is it true that you took a $113 million pay cut just to resign with the Knicks?”
After Brunson affirmed it was correct, Hart joked, “Wow. So, is that money, like, still up for grabs?”
To roaring applause, all the athletes then joined Brunson onstage.
But the 8H audience wouldn’t be the only ones cheering on the New York team. Keep reading for all the celebs in the Knicks fandom…
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