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New York Knicks players celebrate with the Larry O’Brien Trophy after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to win the 2026 NBA championship on Saturday, June 13, 2026, in San Antonio. The title is the Knicks’ first since 1973.

The New York Knicks‘ long-awaited championship celebration now has a route and a start time.

Less than 24 hours after defeating the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to capture the franchise’s first NBA title in 53 years, city officials announced that the Knicks’ championship parade will begin at 10 a.m. ET Thursday and travel through lower Manhattan’s famed Canyon of Heroes.

The parade will start at The Battery and proceed north along Broadway before concluding outside City Hall, where players, coaches and executives will be honored in a civic ceremony and receive keys to the city.

Knicks Championship Parade Route Set

The route carries symbolic significance for New York sports history.

The Canyon of Heroes has hosted ticker-tape parades for championship teams, astronauts and world leaders for more than a century. Yet despite winning NBA titles in 1970 and 1973, the Knicks never received championship parades after either victory.

This week will mark the franchise’s first official title parade.

The announcement came hours after New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared that the city’s long wait for a championship celebration was finally over.

“For more than 50 years, New Yorkers have waited for this moment,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Through near misses, heartbreak and a hope that every year could be our year, this city never stopped believing in the Knicks.”

Municipal buildings, including City Hall, were also illuminated in the Knicks’ signature blue and orange following Saturday night’s championship victory.

Delta Gives Knicks Champions’ Welcome

HeavyNew York Knicks players arrive in New York aboard a Delta Air Lines charter flight after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 to win the 2026 NBA championship. NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson carries the Larry O’Brien Trophy as the team returns home Sunday, June 14, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Delta Air Lines)

Before the parade plans became public, the Knicks were already receiving a champions’ reception.

Delta Air Lines, the franchise’s official airline partner since 2009, flew the team home from San Antonio early Sunday morning and greeted the charter with a ceremonial water-cannon salute upon landing in New York.

“New York has long been an important part of Delta’s story, and it is an honor to celebrate alongside the Knicks, MSG and our customers with this exciting win,” said Emmakate Young, Delta’s managing director of sponsorships.

Throughout the Finals, Delta embraced the city’s championship fever, distributing more than 2,000 co-branded rally towels at LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports, organizing a fan charter to San Antonio featuring Knicks legend Walt “Clyde” Frazier and surprising two fans with tickets to Game 4 at Madison Square Garden.

Delta said the Knicks became the airline’s 81st championship team flown since 2000.

A City Ready to Celebrate

The parade plans cap a remarkable postseason run.

New York rallied from double-digit deficits in all four of its Finals victories, including a record 29-point comeback in Game 4. Finals MVP Jalen Brunson then scored 45 points in the title-clinching Game 5 victory.

Thousands of Knicks fans were still celebrating on New York streets long after the final buzzer sounded in San Antonio. On Thursday morning, those celebrations will officially move to Broadway, where a championship-starved fan base will finally witness a moment more than five decades in the making.