{"id":259140,"date":"2026-06-08T13:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/259140\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T13:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:15:15","slug":"how-avery-wilson-became-knicks-good-luck-charm-as-anthem-singer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/259140\/","title":{"rendered":"How Avery Wilson became Knicks’ good-luck charm as anthem singer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before Karl-Anthony Towns can win a tip-off or Jalen Brunson can score a basket, Avery Wilson<\/a> sets the tone.<\/p>\n

Wilson, a Grammy-nominated singer-actor, has performed the national anthem before nearly every Knicks<\/a> playoff game at Madison Square Garden during this year\u2019s historic run to the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

His booming rendition of \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d is becoming as much a part of the MSG experience as a Mikal Bridges 3-pointer or an OG Anunoby defensive stop.<\/p>\n

And for good reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey refer to me as a good-luck charm,\u201d Wilson told the Daily News.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the Knicks are a perfect 6-0 in these playoffs when Wilson performs the anthem.<\/p>\n

The only game Wilson missed? That would be the only home game the Knicks have lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were like, \u2018We need you,\u2019\u201d Wilson said with a laugh. \u201cEspecially some of the staff backstage that I deal with all the time, they\u2019re like, \u2018Every time. Every time.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018You might be on to something.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s magical run began with the Knicks\u2019 first-round opener against the Atlanta Hawks on April 18.<\/p>\n

When he performed that night, Wilson expected it to be a one-off. Unlike the co-tenant Rangers \u2014 who enlist John Brancy as their nightly anthem singer \u2014 the Knicks have always rotated artists for the pregame performance.<\/p>\n

But, as Wilson tells it, his rendition stood out so much to Jamaal Lesane, the Chief Operating Officer of MSG Sports, that he was immediately invited back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe closed his eyes and felt emotional hearing me sing,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he heard me sing it [that] time, something felt different. He was like, \u2018That\u2019s it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson was unable to perform before Game 2 of the Hawks series due to a prior scheduling conflict, and the Knicks lost that night.<\/p>\n

But Wilson hasn\u2019t missed a home game since, and the Knicks haven\u2019t lost a home game since.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a streak the Knicks \u2014 and Wilson \u2014 will look to continue on Monday night at Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m now realizing the amount of adrenaline and energy that comes from the audience and what their role is, actually, in the arena when you\u2019re at the game,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cWhen I sing, there is an energy and there\u2019s all these endorphins let out from the people screaming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AveryThe Knicks are 6-0 when Avery Wilson performs the national anthem in the playoffs. (Michelle Farsi \/ MSG Sports)<\/p>\n

Performing for live audiences is nothing new for Wilson, a native of New Haven, Conn., who is now based in New York.<\/p>\n

He starred as the Scarecrow in Broadway\u2019s revival of \u201cThe Wiz,\u201d a performance for which he earned a 2024 Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theater Album.<\/p>\n

Wilson, an alumni of NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Voice,\u201d has a series of concerts scheduled in New York and beyond this summer as well.<\/p>\n

But singing the anthem before an amped-up Garden crowd is a totally different experience for Wilson, who is pleased that audiences have resonated with his soulful take on the centuries-old song.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible feeling to know that so many crazed and roaring fans are sitting there watching you, and really, they don\u2019t have to be invested at that point,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I\u2019ve seen it in halftimes [when] everybody goes to the bathroom. Like, nobody has to be locked in. So the fact that they are, it shows me really how special the moment is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before Karl-Anthony Towns can win a tip-off or Jalen Brunson can score a basket, Avery Wilson sets the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100879,207,100822,10663,77160,37011,9,11,10,61699],"class_list":["post-259140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-avery-wilson","tag-broadway","tag-game-3","tag-knicks","tag-national-anthem","tag-nba-finals","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-spurs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}