{"id":842269,"date":"2026-09-09T23:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T23:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/842269\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T23:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T23:14:09","slug":"jalen-brunson-to-host-snl-season-52-premiere-hot-off-of-knicks-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/842269\/","title":{"rendered":"Jalen Brunson to host \u2018SNL\u2019 season 52 premiere hot off of Knicks championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s nothing but net for \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d later this month as the show announced that New York\u2019s own Jalen Brunson will be the first host for the show\u2019s 52nd season.<\/p>\n

New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson is hot off the summer of his career after leading the team to the NBA Championship in June. It\u2019s the team\u2019s first championship league title in more than 50 years. <\/p>\n

The sketch comedy institution announced Brunson would host on Sept. 26 with the girl group Katseye scheduled as the musical guest. <\/p>\n

The show announced Brunson as the first of four weeks of hosts, followed by \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d star Dakota Johnson, \u201cObsession\u201d breakout actor Inde Navarrette and comedian Shane Gillis.<\/p>\n

Brunson\u2019s leadership of the Knicks skyrocketed him into the national spotlight earlier this year as the team made historic comebacks in the NBA playoffs. <\/p>\n

The 30-year-old rallied in the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals to overcome a 22-point deficit. Brunson scored 38 points that game and the team eventually won in overtime against the Cavaliers, setting the Knicks up for a 4-0 sweep of the conference finals. <\/p>\n

It was considered one of the greatest postseason recoveries in the NBA until the Knicks did it again just weeks later. <\/p>\n

The team was trailing the San Antonio Spurs as much has 29 points during the Game 4 of the NBA Finals<\/a>. But the team pushed to make up the gap in what is now regarded as the biggest championship game comeback in NBA history. <\/p>\n

Many credit Brunson\u2019s mentality and leadership for the Knicks\u2019 first NBA championship since 1973. He told NBC News after the stunning Game 4 rally that the team approaches each game as if they are still at 0-0 in the series. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever\u2019s being said, positive or negative, you can\u2019t really think about or worry about too much,\u201d Brunson said. <\/p>\n

Though he\u2019s known for his stoicism on the court, Brunson has a light-hearted side that makes him a good fit for a comedy show. <\/p>\n

He often ribs teammate and best friend Josh Hart on the podcast they host together. Brunson can also be seen trying his best not to crack a smile in their post-game press conferences, where Hart is often seen with food he had delivered to the venue. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether Hart or any of Brunson\u2019s other teammates \u2014 or any of the famous faces who sat courtside for the Knicks championship run, including Timothee Chalamet, Mariska Hargitay or Taylor Swift \u2014 may make an appearance on the \u201cSNL\u201d premiere. It would be a slam dunk for a show that\u2019s known to score celebrity cameos. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s nothing but net for \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d later this month as the show announced that New York\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88],"class_list":["post-842269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}