Jalen Brunson, fresh off winning Finals MVP three months ago, just added another wild line to his resume: host of the 52nd-season premiere of *Saturday Night Live*. This epic SNL gig, coming right after a huge block party last week, feels like the perfect cherry on top of a championship summer, all before Media Day tomorrow and training camp next week. This is exactly how you roll into a new season, ready to go.
MVP Performance? Not Exactly, But He Nailed The Jokes
How did our man do on the big stage? Honestly, for a professional athlete, he was great! Brunson flubbed a few lines and nearly broke Bill Hader-style during one of those massage chair sketches, but he held his own and handled it admirably. Being the good sport he is, the captain even poked fun at himself right away in the opening monologue. He joked that the show was going to be exactly like a Knicks playoff game: pretty crappy for the first three quarters, but with a massive rally at the end. You gotta love that self-aware humor, especially when you’re the guy who just brought home the title.
His Teammates Held Nothing Back, And OG Anunoby Got A Roar
Brunson’s four fellow starters showed up, too, and it turned into a total roasting session, with each guy asking the captain a question. Karl-Anthony Towns (KAT), Josh Hart, and OG Anunoby all got some choice lines in there. Josh Hart, ever the money man, asked if Jalen really sacrificed $113 million to extend with the Knicks, and if any of that cash was still up for grabs. Classic Josh. KAT, of course, wanted to know if you could foul out of an SNL taping. When told you can’t, he was hyped that he could actually stay for the whole show. But it was OG Anunoby who got a massive roar from the appreciative audience when he stood up and just flat-out asked if Jalen recalled missing that shot at the end of Game Four. Brutal!
Mikal Bridges got the short end of the stick from the writers though. The Savage ‘Kal asked if Jalen thought he had a long wingspan, with a mournful punchline: “Yet I will never fly.” C’mon, SNL, you gotta do better for ESPN.com’s 61st best NBA player!
Sketches Landed, And Stephen A. Smith Got Roasted
Lorne Michaels might claim there are 17 cast members this season, but you wouldn’t know it after watching this episode. Ben Marshall, Ashley Padilla, Mikey Day, and Kenan Thompson were all over the place. Kenan even did a hilarious send-up of that double-talking, alleged Knicks fan, Stephen A. Smith, which was absolutely spot-on. Some sketches totally worked, while others were sunk by weak premises. The video sketch where Jalen played the basketball bully in *High School Musical* was genuinely funny, especially since Brunson is a huge fan himself. A sketch about fellas at a support meeting for guys whose girlfriends were brought onstage by Usher and Chris Brown had an amusing concept, but really went nowhere.
As for Jalen, this whole SNL experience is just another entry on an already remarkable resume. Tomorrow is Media Day, with training camp right around the corner, and Jalen is rolling in hot. His Basketball-Reference page is already stacked with two NCAA championships and an NBA championship, and now you can add “SNL Host” to that impressive list. What a way to kick off the new season!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Posting and Toasting.
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