'SNL' host Jalen Brunson jokes about Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce wedding - USA Today

The King of New York is live from New York.

New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson made his "Saturday Night Live" hosting debut in the sketch show's Season 52 premiere on Sept. 26, and four of his teammates made surprise appearances to support him.

Knicks stars Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart all popped up in the monologue, sitting in the audience to ask Brunson questions. Towns wondered if it's possible to "foul out of 'SNL,' " and when Brunson replied that it's not, Towns excitedly declared, "So I could be here, like, the whole show?"

Hart, meanwhile, wanted to know, "Is it true that you took a $113 million pay cut just to re-sign with the Knicks? Wow, so is that money, like, still up for grabs?" The foursome later joined Brunson up on stage.

Elsewhere in the monologue, Brunson touched on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's Madison Square Garden wedding, quipping that with the start of the NBA season approaching, "It's going to be pretty cool to be back in Madison Square Garden, looking around like, 'Wow, just a few months ago, this was the exact spot where Taylor and Travis got married.' "

Brunson also joked he planned to approach hosting the episode the same way as a Knicks finals game: "The first three quarters of the show are going to be godawful. The last sketch is going to be amazing."

The Knicks star appeared in various sketches throughout the night, including a prerecorded "High School Musical" parody where he joins a singing and dancing basketball team and completely outshines their best player.

Brunson's Knicks teammates rejoined him on stage at the end of the show for goodnights as he thanked "everybody at 'SNL' for a great week" and said he'd be getting "back to my real job pretty soon."

Brunson was the first host of Season 52 of "Saturday Night Live," as well as the first "SNL" host from the world of sports since Kelce in 2023. The "SNL" season premiere aired a few weeks before Brunson will appear on another NBC staple: He's confirmed for a guest role in an episode of "Law & Order: SVU" in November.

After Brunson, the next batch of "SNL" hosts includes Dakota Johnson, Shane Gillis and Inde Navarrette.