Jalen Brunson, the New York Knicks guard who capped an NBA championship season by winning Finals MVP, hosted the season 52 premiere of "Saturday Night Live" on NBC on Saturday night, becoming the first NBA player to host the show since LeBron James in 2007. Grammy-nominated girl group Katseye, touring behind its August EP "WILD," served as musical guest.
Brunson averaged 32.6 points, 4.6 assists and 4.2 rebounds across this year's NBA Finals as the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs, winning the franchise's first title since 1973 and ending a 53-year championship drought in New York. He was also named Eastern Conference Finals MVP after the Knicks swept the Cleveland Cavaliers, according to NBA.com's account of the postseason. Athletes hosting "SNL" remain rare enough that NBC's own marketing leaned on the history: no basketball player had done it in nearly two decades.
The premiere also introduced a reshaped cast. Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline were promoted to the repertory cast after stints as featured players, while Saidah Belo-Osagie and Grace Reiter joined as new featured players — Reiter reportedly the first "SNL" cast member born in the 2000s. The moves follow the departure of Chloe Fineman, a cast member since 2019 who left the show after seven seasons, according to a season overview compiled by TV Insider.
What's Ahead This Season
NBC has already booked hosts through late October. Dakota Johnson returns for a third time on Oct. 3 alongside musical guest Turnstile, Shane Gillis makes his third hosting appearance Oct. 10 with Rosalía performing, and newcomer Inde Navarrette is set to make her "SNL" debut hosting the Halloween episode with Gracie Abrams as musical guest, per NBC's own premiere coverage.
New episodes air live at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC and stream the next morning on Peacock. For a show now in its 52nd season, the pairing of a first-time athlete host with a fully reshuffled cast is itself a small bet: that live sketch comedy can still draw an audience that doesn't automatically tune in for it, if the guest list reaches outside the usual pool of actors, comedians and pop stars.
