It’s the summer of Jalen Brunson and the Knicks.
The superstar Knicks guard took home a trio of ESPY Awards on Wednesday night for Best NBA Player, Best Championship Performance and Best Athlete in Men’s Sports.
To end the awards spectacle, the Knicks won the Best Team ESPY, beating out eight other squads across the sports spectrum.
OG Anunoby’s flying tip-in that capped off the Knicks’ NBA Finals Game 4 comeback also earned Best Play.
Brunson was announced the winner of the NBA-focused award earlier on Wednesday and earned his second and third honors at the award show at Lincoln Center in New York.
Jalen Brunson accepts the Best Championship Performance award onstage during the 2026 ESPY Awards at David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on July 15, 2026 in New York City. Getty Images
Jalen Brunson and Ali Marks Brunson. Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock
Brunson, on hand with his wife, Ali Marks Brunson, accepted his awards on the David H. Koch Theater stage while dressed to the nines in a tuxedo.
“First and foremost, I want to thank my family for sacrificing everything day in and day out,” Brunson said after winning the championship performance ESPY. “Thank you to [owner] Jim Dolan and the Knicks organization, [president] Leon [Rose], the front office, Mike Brown, my teammates — without them, none of this would be possible; they allow me to be me. I’m forever indebted to them.”
He beat out United States hockey gold medalists Aerin Frankel and Connor Hellebuyck and Texas softball’s Teagan Kavan for the championship performance ESPY. Argentina soccer legend Lionel Messi, Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani and Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford were up for the men’s athlete award.
A group of Knicks, including Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges and president Leon Rose, joined Brunson to accept the team award. Knicks superfan Fat Joe fittingly closed down the show with his song “All the Way Up.”
Brunson won the NBA Finals MVP, ending the Knicks’ 53-year title drought in a five-game series over the Spurs.
He scored over 30 points in four of the five contests, with 36 in the Knicks’ historic Game 4 comeback before dropping 45 in the Game 5 clincher on the road in San Antonio.
Making it all the more impressive was that Brunson dealt with pain in his left hand and wrist, something that bothered him during the final two rounds of the playoffs, he revealed earlier Wednesday on ESPN Radio.
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson with the Championship trophy riding on a float. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
The Post previously reported he underwent surgery for the issue on July 7.
“I just remember being at the free-throw line in the third or fourth quarter of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals,” Brunson said. My wrist was starting to feel weak. I was like, ‘Where is this coming from?’ From that point on, I was trying to figure out what was going on, and how I can push through, because I wasn’t going to get anything done during that time.”
