Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks were the undisputed stars of Wednesday night's 2026 ESPY Awards, sweeping the ceremony's headline honors just weeks after delivering the franchise its first NBA championship since 1973.
Brunson's Big Night
Brunson, nominated in three categories, won all three: Best Male Athlete, Best Championship Performance, and Best NBA Player. He capped the night by joining his teammates on stage as the Knicks were named Best Team, becoming the first team in ESPYs history to win that kind of NBA "double" alongside an individual sweep by their star player. "First and foremost β want to say thank you to my family for sacrificing everything day in and day out," Brunson said in his acceptance remarks.
A Season for the Ages
Brunson's awards capped a legendary run that saw him average 26.0 points, 6.8 assists, and 0.8 steals across the regular season for a 53-29 Knicks team, before elevating his game further in the playoffs. In the NBA Finals against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, Brunson averaged 32.6 points, 4.6 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.2 steals per game, punctuating the series with a Knicks Finals-record 45-point outburst in Game 5 that earned him the Bill Russell Trophy as Finals MVP. New York closed out the series 4-1, ending a 53-year championship drought for the franchise. ESPN analyst Ryan Clark had argued in the lead-up to the ceremony that Brunson's late-season and postseason heroics β including a comeback from a 29-point deficit that fueled belief across the roster β made him the clear choice over other MVP finalists like Nikola JokiΔ and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
More Knicks Hardware
Brunson wasn't the only Knick honored on the night. Forward OG Anunoby took home the award for Best Play for his pivotal tip-in during Game 4 of the NBA Finals, adding to New York's dominant showing at the ceremony.
The Rest of the Night's Winners
Held at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York and hosted by "Saturday Night Live" star Marcello HernΓ‘ndez, the ceremony also recognized standout moments across the sports world. Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson earned Best Female Athlete for the second year running, completing her own "double" after also winning Best WNBA Player. Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo was honored for Best Single-Game Performance, having posted an 83-point outing in March, while Shohei Ohtani was separately recognized for his own standout single-game performance. Figure skater Alysa Liu took home Best Breakthrough Athlete. Stephen and Ayesha Curry received the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award for their work with their Eat. Learn. Play. foundation, and the late Jason Collins was posthumously honored with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage.
A Star-Studded Celebration
Beyond the awards themselves, the night featured performances from Slick Rick, De La Soul, and Ghostface Killah, along with a lighter moment involving DJ Khaled staging a rematch tease between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. The evening's proceedings continued to underscore just how thoroughly the Knicks' championship run has captivated the sports world in the weeks since their Finals win β Brunson and teammate Josh Hart even made a stop at Yankee Stadium as part of the team's victory tour, taking the mound for a ceremonial appearance.
Why It Resonates
For a Knicks franchise and fanbase that waited more than five decades for another title, Wednesday's sweep at the ESPYs offered one more moment to savor a championship season that's already taken on legendary status in New York sports lore. As ESPN put it in its celebration of the night, Brunson closed the ceremony as he began it: center stage, hardware in hand, and a franchise-defining season now fully immortalized.