here<\/a>. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its teams.<\/p>\n***<\/p>\n
More than basketball fans continue getting familiar with New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson.<\/p>\n
Brunson appeared in a prerecorded video to open the 78th Emmys with this year\u2019s host, \u201cLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit\u201d star Mariska Hargitay. The Emmys honor the best in television programming. Brunson and Hargitay, who are friends, have become synonymous with the Knicks for different reasons. Brunson was named NBA Finals MVP after leading the Knicks to their first championship in 53 years three months ago.<\/p>\n
Hargitay is a Knicks fan and was a regular at Madison Square Garden during New York\u2019s title run. Her reaction to the Knicks\u2019 29-point comeback in Game 4 of the finals went viral as she stood on the court in disbelief and hugged OG Anunoby. She also was on Brunson\u2019s float during the Knicks\u2019 championship parade.<\/p>\n
This time, Brunson made an appearance for Hargitay\u2019s big moment as she became the first woman to host the Emmys in 15 years.<\/p>\n
In the scene, Brunson is steaming his blue Knicks jersey while Hargitay steams a dress for the show. Hargitay talks about pressure and asks, \u201cHave you ever felt like you have millions of eyes on you and it all comes down to one night?\u201d<\/p>\n
Brunson, with the NBA Finals logo on the back of his jersey visible, reappeared onscreen with a dumbfounded look and replied, \u201cSeriously?\u201d<\/p>\n
Hargitay says, in her case, it\u2019s just her, and she doesn\u2019t have anyone to \u201ctap it in\u201d for her \u2014 a reference to Anunoby\u2019s game-winning tip-in to clinch New York\u2019s aforementioned historic comeback \u2014 before leaving for the rest of the intro video because she doesn\u2019t have time to \u201csteam outfits\u201d with Brunson.<\/p>\n
She dropped another Brunson reference, though, saying, \u201cCatch another Brunson nail the shot\u201d when talking about \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d star and multi-time Emmy award winner Quinta Brunson.<\/p>\n
Jalen Brunson\u2019s and Hargitay\u2019s worlds will continue crossing over. Hargitay said Brunson\u2019s appearance on \u201cLaw & Order: SVU\u201d is \u201cin the works\u201d and \u201cit\u2019s definitely happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
That will not be the first time Brunson makes a television appearance. He\u2019s slated to host the season premiere of Season 52 of \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d on Sept. 26. Hosting the sketch comedy show will give Brunson an opportunity to show off his acting and comedic talents more. He\u2019ll join Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and LeBron James as the only NBA players to host the show.<\/p>\n
Brunson has also appeared on WWE multiple times, including in July. He\u2019s been a part of storylines with WWE star Roman Reigns, whom he\u2019s referenced during Knicks news conferences, and an arc with Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton. The three-time All-Star has also announced he\u2019ll release a children\u2019s book, \u201cJalen Plays It All,\u201d in November.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Jason Jones<\/a> is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering Culture. Previously, he spent 16 years at the Sacramento Bee, covering the Sacramento Kings and Oakland Raiders. He\u2019s a proud Southern California native and a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jalen Brunson continues his busy offseason after leading the New York Knicks to the 2026 NBA championship. Editor\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,16906,20455,462041,590,85],"class_list":["post-892601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-emmys","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-mariskia-hargitay","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/brunson-react-1920-2275511850.jpg\")
<\/p>\n