The New York Knicks are taking their championship celebration from Madison Square Garden energy to late-night television.
NBC Universal announced that the 2026 NBA champion Knicks will be featured on a dedicated episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” airing Monday, June 15, at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. The episode will stream the next day on Peacock.
The guest list reflects the core of the Knicks’ title team: NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges are all scheduled to join Fallon. NBC said the full team, head coach Mike Brown, the Knicks City Dancers and surprise guests will also appear.
For a franchise that had not won a championship since 1973, this is more than a late-night booking. It is part of the first full public victory lap for a Knicks team that turned a generations-long wait into a citywide celebration.
“A booking 53 years in the making,” Fallon said in NBC’s announcement.
Jalen Brunson Leads Knicks’ Fallon Guest List After Finals MVP Run
Brunson will walk onto the “Tonight Show” set as the face of the Knicks’ title run.
The Knicks closed out the San Antonio Spurs with a 94-90 win in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, finishing the series in five games. Brunson scored 45 points in the clincher, setting a Knicks Finals record, and was named the 2026 NBA Finals MVP.
It was a fitting finish to a postseason built around his late-game control, shot-making and leadership. New York did not simply survive the Finals; it repeatedly fought back from dangerous spots. The Knicks erased a 15-point deficit in Game 5 after previously rallying from 29 down in Game 4, one of the defining swings of the series.
That gives Monday’s episode a clear basketball center. Brunson is not just appearing as the star of a championship team. He is appearing as the player who delivered one of the biggest individual closeout performances in franchise history.
The rest of the announced guest list matters, too. Towns gave New York another high-end offensive anchor. Hart remained one of the team’s emotional engines. Anunoby and Bridges helped form the kind of two-way wing group built for deep playoff basketball. Together, that group gave the Knicks a title formula that was more durable than a one-man run.
Knicks’ Championship Celebration Moves From the Finals to NBC
The “Tonight Show” episode will lean fully into the New York angle.
NBC said the studio audience will be made up of Knicks fans who were unable to attend the Finals in person. Wu-Tang Clan, one of New York’s most iconic hip-hop groups, will also perform during the episode.
That matters because the Knicks’ championship is already being framed as a city event, not just a basketball achievement. The title ended a 53-year drought and sparked celebrations across New York after Game 5.
Fallon, a well-known Knicks fan, gives NBC a natural host for that celebration. The setting also allows the team to pivot from the intensity of the Finals to the release that follows: stories from the run, reaction from the locker room and a public salute to a fanbase that waited decades for the moment.
Previously scheduled guests for the June 15 episode will be rescheduled, according to NBC.
Knicks Parade Is Scheduled for Thursday in New York City
The Knicks’ late-night takeover is only one part of the celebration calendar.
New York City announced that it will honor the Knicks with a ticker-tape parade and City Hall ceremony on Thursday, June 18. The city said the team will receive Keys to the City, and the celebration will mark the first ticker-tape parade in Knicks history.
The parade is expected to run through the Canyon of Heroes, with city officials preparing for a massive turnout after the Knicks’ first championship since 1973.
That gives Knicks fans a packed week after the title-clinching win: the team’s return home, the Fallon episode, then the official city parade.
For Brunson and the Knicks, the basketball work ended with a trophy. The public celebration is just beginning.
New York Knicks Get Major NBC Announcement After Winning NBA Title