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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 24: Josh Hart of the New York Knicks talks with (L-R) Anthony Volpe #11, Giancarlo Stanton #27 and Juan Soto #22 of the New York Yankees before a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on September 24, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
The New York Knicks will get another appetizer Wednesday for the full-blown main course that will be the championship parade Thursday.
Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart will throw out the first pitch at the New York Yankees game against the Chicago White Sox at Yankee Stadium.
The Knicks, of course, have been enjoying the spoils of their five-game NBA Finals series win over the San Antonio Spurs. New York capped its first title in 53 years with a 94-90 win in San Antonio on Saturday.
The Knicks championship parade, the first in franchise history, will be Thursday in Lower Manhattan, starting at 10 a.m. ET.
GettyKnicks star and NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson has thrown out the ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium previously, in 2024.
This won’t be Brunson or Hart’s first time toeing the rubber in the Bronx. But it will be each’s first time throwing out the first pitch as an NBA champion.
The Yankees announced Brunson and Hart would be throwing out the first pitch with a post on X (formerly Twitter) that simply said “Tonight. The Champs. First pitches at Yankee Stadium” with photos of Brunson and Hart.
The last time Brunson toed the rubber at Yankee Stadium was two years ago, even before he was named Knicks captain. Brunson donned a Yankees jersey and cap, yet still received a huge ovation from New York Mets fans, by tossing the first pitch to then-Yankees pitcher Domingo German.
Brunson has further captivated New Yorkers with his humble-yet-confident demeanor, especially since he carried the Knicks to the Finals for the first time since 1999.
But Brunson and Hart, as well as fellow Nova-Knicks member Mikal Bridges, became the first trio of teammates to win a championship in both college (Villanova, 2016) and the NBA (Knicks, 2026). Brunson and Bridges won two titles at Villanova, since they claimed the 2018 championship too.
GettyJosh Hart met with Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Volpe and Juan Soto in 2024, when he threw out the ceremonial first pitch in the Bronx.
Hart is as real as they come, and he’ll be on hand both as an NBA champion and as a fan of the Yankees.
Though he hails from Silver Spring, Maryland, and played college ball in Philly, Hart’s great uncle was Yankees icon and Hall of Fame catcher Elston Howard.
Hart donned Howard’s No. 32 while throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium in 2024, to celebrate the first Black player in Yankees history who also won four championships in pinstripes. He never met his great-uncle but views him as a role model.
“Someone who’s in your family who got to the highest level, who won World Series championships, was an MVP, is someone you look up to, is somebody you aspire to be in your respective sport,” Hart told NBC Sports Philadelphia in 2016.
“I used him as a role model, just everything he was able to do: The first Black player to play for the Yankees. The character that he had is something that I try to resemble. Dad was always telling me stories about when he used to go to the ballpark and watch him play and just learn from him.”
Pat Pickens is an experienced sports writer and media personality who has written for outlets like NHL.com, the Associated Press, the New York Times and USA Today. He covers the NFL, NBA, NHL and NBA as a breaking news contributor at Heavy. More about Pat Pickens
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