All-Star guard Jalen Brunson acknowledged his “Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns after powering the New York Knicks to the second round of the NBA playoffs.
Brunson shockingly revealed that he and his trainers “acknowledge” Reigns before every game with the “one to the sky” gesture associated with the WWE superstar.
“See, these are the questions I want asked,” Brunson said when asked about Reigns capturing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 42.
“Very excited,” Brunson said of Reigns returning to the top of the WWE.
“I have a handshake with one of our trainers, and we acknowledge him [Reigns] before every game,” said Brunson, who was a +41 on the floor in the 140-89 Game 6 win.
“See, these are the questions I want asked!… I have a handshake with one of our trainers and we acknowledge him before every game” 😂
Jalen Brunson: A Lifelong WWE Fan
Brunson made a cameo on an episode of “WWE SmackDown” at Madison Square in July 2024, confronting his Indiana Pacers rival Tyrese Haliburton in the ring. The confrontation was particularly spicy and timely given that Brunson and Haliburton’s teams faced off in back-to-back playoff series in 2024 and 2025.
On the “Roomates Show,” Brunson called it a “childhood dream” come true moment.
“It was definitely something that I was like — it was more nerve-racking than playing a basketball game. It’s way more nerve-racking to do that, for me. But it was fun,” Brunson said back in 2024, via POST Wrestling.
“It was worth it, 100 percent worth it… We (Brunson & Paul Levesque) were in a group chat and then he called me and then and I got off the phone. You know when you get off the phone, you try to act cool, like, ‘Yeah, yeah man. Sounds good, sounds good.’ Then get off the phone and I was like, ‘I was just on the phone with Triple H!’
“I was hype. I’m not gonna lie, I was hype… He’s a cool dude and everyone there was great. Meeting LA Knight too, that was great too. Everyone a part of that, that whole experience for me was awesome…”
Jalen Brunson, Knicks Move On
Brunson and the Knicks now await the winner of the Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers series as they move on to the second round of the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year. Last year, the Knicks upset the Celtics in the second round to make the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in the 21st century.
The Knicks will ride the momentum of a crushing Game 6 win over the Atlanta Hawks, when they set several postseason records and silenced their doubters. Besides setting a new postseason record for the largest halftime lead of 47 points (83-36), the Knicks set a franchise playoff record with their 51-point victory margin. Furthermore, their 83 first-half points were the third-most by any team in NBA playoffs history.
Many analysts wrote off the Knicks after they went down 2-1 in the series to the Hawks courtesy of back-to-back daggers by CJ McCollum in Games 2 and 3. They would flip the script by outscoring Atlanta by a staggering margin of 32.0 points in Games 4, 5 and 6 to advance to the second round of the playoffs.
Jalen Brunson Makes Shocking Confession After Knicks Series Win