All eyes will be on the sidelines of the 2026 NBA Finals, where courtside seats feature a who’s who of Hollywood. But we can’t forget about the wives and girlfriends who supported the professional athletes along the way.
Jordyn Woods, Reece Fox and Ali Brunson will be front and center during Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, redefining modern-day WAGs, a term that’s evolved to represent a wide array of women and partners who are successful in their own right.
Woods (the fiancé of Karl-Anthony Towns) owns her own clothing company. Brunson (the wife of Jalen Brunson) has a doctorate in physical therapy. Fox (the wife of De’Aaron Fox) was a breakout high school basketball star and former McDonald’s All American.
Meet the WAGS of NBA Finals:
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) and fiancee Jordyn Woods during game five of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on May 6, 2026 in New York, New York.
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Jordyn Woods
Partner: New York Knicks center/forward Karl-Anthony Towns
Jordyn Woods has turned the sidelines at Madison Square Garden into her runway. The Woods by Jordyn founder frequently documents her game-day looks on her Instagram account, which boasts nearly 11.5 million followers. She regularly wears pieces from her clothing line, including an orange ostrich clutch that has quickly become a good luck charm. “I wore it for Game 1 during one of my TikTok GRWMs, and ever since then we’ve kept winning, so now it’s officially become the lucky bag,” she told Vogue.
Woods and Towns started dating in 2020 and announced their engagement on Christmas Day in 2025. After the Knicks punched their ticket to the NBA Finals, Woods penned a note to her beau: “I’ve watched you make it to the Conference Finals three years in a row. Through every high and low, you’ve kept your head down, stayed optimistic, and remained the most consistent, genuine teammate, family member, and now fiancé. No matter where life takes us, it’s only up from here.”
Woods previously appeared on the E! reality show “Life of Kylie,” alongside Kylie Jenner. Jenner had made several appearances at Knicks games this postseason with her actor beau Timothée Chalamet, a Knicks superfan.
Ali Brunson
Partner: New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson
Ali Brunson and Jalen Brunson’s love story started in high school in Lincolnshire, Illinois. The couple dated long-distance during college — Brunson played basketball at Villanova (where he won two national championships) and Ali Brunson received her Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology at the University of Illinois. Ali Brunson went on to receive a doctorate in physical therapy from Northwestern University.
The couple got engaged in September 2022 back where it all started. Brunson proposed on the basketball court at Stevenson High School after Brunson was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame. The couple tied the knot in July 2023 and welcomed daughter Jordyn James Brunson a year later on July 2024.
Ali Brunson is also the owner of The AMB Method, a New York-based workout studio that is “bridging the gap between physical therapy and modern strength training,” according to the website.
Shannon Hart
Partner: New York Knicks guard Josh Hart
Shannon and Josh Hart met in the 10th grade and began dating while attending Sidwell Friends High School in Washington, D.C. While Josh Hart played basketball at Villanova, Shannon Hart played collegiate soccer at UMBC. She received a degree in health administration and public policy from the university and went on to graduate from the University of Maryland School of Nursing. “Congrats on graduating nursing school and cheers to new beginnings,” Josh Hart wrote on Instagram in 2019. The couple announced their engagement in December 2020 and tied the knot in August 2021. Shannon and Josh Hart share 3-year-old twin boys, Hendrix and Haze.
Reece Fox
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Partner: San Antonio Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox
Reece and De’Aaron Fox both share a passion for basketball. Reece Fox was a highly-recruited McDonald’s All-American out of Lady Bird Johnson High School in San Antonio. She played collegiate basketball at UCLA, Texas Tech and Cal, where she scored more than 1,000 points and had 400 assists. After her playing career, Fox served as a video coordinator at Texas and worked for the Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards front office.
“My wife played basketball at a high level. It makes it a lot easier to support someone and talk someone through stuff whenever you understand what they are kind of going through,” De’Aaron Fox said on Hulu’s “Clutch” series.
Reece and De’Aaron Fox got engaged in September 2020 and tied the knot in August 2022 during a star-studded ceremony in Malibu, California, that included Monique Billings, Bam Adebayo, Jayson Tatum and Trae Young. The couple share son Reign and daughter Poppy.
Brittany Barnes
Brittany and Harrison Barnes both attended the University of North Carolina. Brittany Barnes graduated from the university with a bachelor’s degree in Global and African American studies and received a Master’s degree in journalism from University of California, Berkeley. The couple tied the knot in August 2017 and share a daughter together.
JoJo Lacey
Dylan Harper and JoJo Lacey both played collegiate basketball at Rutgers. Lacey averaged a career-high 10.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game at Rutgers during the 2024-25 season after spending the first four years of her career at Boston College. Lacey briefly signed with the Washington Mystics in April 2025 before joining AU Pro Basketball.
Reach USA TODAY National Women’s Sports Reporter Cydney Henderson at [email protected] and follow her on X at @CydHenderson.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY Sports: Meet WAGS of 2026 NBA Finals: Jordyn Woods (Knicks), Reece Fox (Spurs)
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