Jalen Brunson isn’t sure yet if his New York Knicks will visit the Trump White House after winning the NBA championship and thought it was “really cool” that Taylor Swift was cheering on the team courtside at Madison Square Garden during Game 4 of the NBA Finals. As for Swift’s star-studded wedding at MSG, and the rumors that the Knicks’ starting five were invited? He found out the same way the rest of the world did (online) but feels his team’s play may have influenced her choice of wedding venue.
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The King of New York revealed all this during a conversation last week at Variety’s inaugural Sports & Entertainment Studio in New York, which included talks with Super Bowl-winning quarterback Russell Wilson; NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson; NCAA champion and ESPN analyst Jay Williams; Kristin Lemkau, CEO of J.P. Morgan Wealth Management; Kristyn Cook, EVP at State Farm; and Carolyn Braff, VP of Sports and Entertainment at PepsiCo.
When asked whether, as media reports indicated, him and the Knicks’ starting five got the invite to the TaylorSwift/Travis Kelce wedding at MSG, Brunson offers, “It’s a great question. I found out the same way the rest of the world did. So, I don’t know if it was true or not, but I did not attend.”
He does think, however, think the team’s historic NBA championship run, earning the Knicks its first title in 53 years and rousing the entire city, could have played a part in Swift and Kelce getting married at the place dubbed the “World’s Most Famous Arena.” “Maybe. Maybe,” he replies. “But knowing how weddings work, I feel like that may have been predetermined a while back, but especially knowing how tightly scheduled the garden is, I don’t know. But it was definitely, probably, clearly a memorable night for them.”
Swift, meanwhile, received some blowback from Knicks’ fans for cheering the team on courtside at Game 4 of the NBA Finals at MSG, even though she’d recently appeared courtside with her then-fiancé Kelce, an Ohio native who was rooting for the opposing Cleveland Cavaliers against the Knicks. But Brunson enjoyed having her root for his team. “Yeah, it’s cool. It’s really cool having her there,” he maintains. “I feel like her being in Cleveland for courtside one game, obviously, I think Travis and the Kelces are from Ohio, so I get that. And she’s been at the Knicks’ games before. So, I mean, whoever comes, as long as you’re cheering us on, we appreciate it. And I think that was probably a really good game to come to as well.”
As for whether the Knicks will visit the Trump White House, as their owner James Dolan indicated, Brunson can’t say for now. “That’s something that we actually haven’t discussed as a team. And so obviously, people are making assumptions and saying everything, but together we haven’t discussed it yet. And so we’ll cross our bridge when we get to it.”
When Brunson was informed that if they do visit, they’d be the first NBA team to visit the Trump White House, he replied, “Interesting… Interesting.”
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Brunson was joined by Kristin Lemkau, who not only serves as the CEO of J.P. Morgan Wealth Management but also recruited the New York Knicks star to the JPMorganChase Athlete Council, a “collection of nine athletes who will meet every few months to reflect on their own experiences and inform how JPMC approaches its athlete clients,” with a focus on providing information and resources to younger athletes on how to manage their money. Dwyane Wade is the chair of the Athlete Council, and is joined by Brunson, Tom Brady, Sue Bird, Ally Love, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Kayvon Thibodeaux and A’ja Wilson. “We observed an emerging problem of athletes having a unique set of financial circumstances, which is their careers are often short-lived,” explains Lemkau. “Three years, I think, is about the average professional career. Only 2% of college athletes will ever make it to the pros. And then when their career ends, they need to find a second career and they’re often not as well-equipped to do that or they didn’t actually get a college degree because they went pro right away. And one of the things I’m really proud of in my business, we can offer advice to anyone. We can take somebody who has $5 or Jalen Brunson. And so, I think there’s a responsibility, particularly as this money is going to kids younger and younger and younger, to get them to think about longevity.”
Brunson agrees, adding, “Once you start making money, everyone thinks that you’re going to be making this type of money for the rest of your life. And it’s not the case. Like she said, you’re making this money for a very short amount of time. A lot of people have very short careers, and you don’t really end on your own accord… But to be able to have the mindset early of knowing that, ‘Hey… this income isn’t going to last for my entire career or even beyond my career, so how can I be resourceful and start to be smart with my money at an early age?’ It’ll help.”
Following the Knicks’ championship win, in which Brunson was named NBA Finals MVP and scored 45 points in the close-out game, he had surgery to repair a tendon in his left wrist. Fans — including this one — were surprised that Brunson turned in a Jordan-esque performance in the Finals with a bum wrist, and he sported a cast to the interview. “I was more in pain when I wasn’t in the game versus when we were actually playing. I feel like the adrenaline took over. But yeah, it was definitely an obstacle, but we found a way through,” he describes, adding, “Because it’s like my tendon and my structure, my wrist is fine. There was soft tissue that was holding my tendon and it kept flipping and snapping over the bone every time I shot, every time I flicked my wrist, and so clearly it was causing pain, causing friction… I’ll be in this [cast] for about another six weeks, and then from that point on, it’s just my rehab after that. But I should be good. I should be good.”
Brunson co-hosts the popular Playmaker HQ podcast “The Roommates Show” with his Knicks and Villanova teammate (and good pal) Josh Hart, and says he will be “starting a media company.” He’s also keen to cameo on his favorite show, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” starring his favorite fan, Mariska Hargitay.
“I would love to,” he says of an “SVU” cameo. “Mariska has become a great friend of mine. She was an idol. She was someone I looked up to. I think obviously I feel like everyone who watches this show feels like she’s just a role model for all. And so, she’s still that for me, but then obviously getting to know her, know her family — our family is intertwining. It’s been a great friendship and she’s been very supportive of me and I try to be very supportive of her as well.”
The Knicks’ championship win has caused a flurry of NBA free agency activity, with a number of rival teams adding major pieces — Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Heat, Jaylen Brown to the Sixers — to challenge them for the throne. Even though the Knicks lost backup center (and defensive maestro) Mitchell Robinson to the Boston Celtics, Brunson still believes that his team has what it takes to run it back. “Oh, I still have confidence. I will always have confidence in myself and my team,” he declares. “Not because we won, because I know the type of character guys that we have. I know how hard my team works. I know how hard I work. I know what our mindset is. Our mindset is just to get better every single day. And so even though, yes, we did win this past year, going forward that literally means nothing.”
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