Jalen Brunson is the King of New York City.
If you had any doubt about that, the fact that he is hosting the season opener of Saturday Night Live this week — with musical guest KATSEYE — should tell you all you need to know (catch the show on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET / 8:30 p.m. PT, plus “SNL” streams live on Peacock).
Brunson is the fifth NBA player to host the show. In tribute to Brunson and the start of a new SNL season, let’s look back at the previous four.
Charles Barkley
Sept. 25, 1993, musical guest: Nirvana
Jan. 9, 2010, musical guest: Alicia Keys
Jan. 7, 2012, musical guest: Kelly Clarkson
March 3, 2018, musical guest: Migos
Barkley has hosted SNL four times — the most of any pro athlete (unless you’re counting Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who has hosted five times). Three of Barkley’s turns as host came a decade or more after he retired from playing, which speaks to just how much he broke out of the athlete mode to become a pop culture personality.
Charles Barkley first appeared on SNL during his playing days, opening the 1993 season, and it gave us a glimpse of the larger-than-life personality that would fuel Barkley’s post-playing career. Barkley was coming off his MVP season and having led the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals (where they fell to the Jordan-era Bulls). Barkley poked fun at himself: During a skit with “therapist” Stuart Smalley, Barkley was asked if he was happy and he said yes, he was the best basketball player in the world. Smalley (played by Al Franken) responded, “So, I guess since, you know, you’re the best basketball player in the world, then I guess you won a lot of championships then?”
Then there was the legendary one-on-one game where Barkley elbowed children’s show icon Barney the purple dinosaur.
Barkley would host three more times and was a favorite of the cast and crew, according to long-time SNL cue card guy Wally Feresten. Those appearances included some memorable skits, such as Barkley and Kate McKinnon playing the last two people at a bar for last call. It is Feresten who tells of a prank he and Barkley played on the SNL cast during rehearsal that was one of a kind.
Barkley also has often been imitated on the show — and very well — by Kenan Thompson.
Michael Jordan
Sept. 28, 1991, musical guest: Public Enemy
Jordan hosted when coming off an MVP, Finals MVP and championship season with Chicago. Jordan was at the peak of his powers, and in an oral history of the episode by SLAM, cast members like Chris Rock and Adam Sandler talked about how — among a group used to seeing stars every week — there were so many demands for his autograph from just cast and crew that they had to put a guard outside Jordan’s dressing room door.
Jordan had some really funny moments, with a monologue that included skits of endorsements he passed up, plus a “Daily Affirmation with Stuart Smalley” skit. It’s also an episode often best remembered for Rev. Jesse Jackson’s legendary reading of “Green Eggs and Ham” to honor the passing of Dr. Seuss.
Maybe the best sketch with Jordan was a spoof on sports history where Jordan came in as “The First Black Harlem Globetrotter.” The other famous bit Jordan was in was “Bill Swerski’s Super Fans.”
Sept. 29, 2007, musical guest: Kanye West
LeBron came to Saturday Night Live off a season where he lifted the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals faster than expected, only to run into peak Tim Duncan Spurs. Cleveland got swept. LeBron joked about that in his “LeBronologue” to open the show, saying that for people who aren’t basketball fans, his team swept the Spurs to win the title, and people who are basketball fans need to “be cool and shut up.”
Maybe the most memorable sketch from the show was LeBron taping a “Read to Achieve” promo, but one character (played by Jason Sudeikis) keeps throwing bad passes to LeBron, and at one point throws a book instead of a basketball. The best line may have been when Sudeikis’ character says to LeBron, “You’re 22, right? Go sit at the kids’ table, have a juice box.”
At the All-Star Game in 2025, LeBron was asked about his experience hosting SNL as the show was in the midst of its 50th season (credit to The Athletic’s Dan Woike for the question).
“To be a part of Saturday Night Live’s legacy is something that is a dream come true,” LeBron said. “I mean, it’s been on, obviously, my entire life, and seeing so many great actors grace those those skits every single Saturday, and so many entertainers that come here and do their do their bits as well. It was it was it was fun. It was super fun. Hopefully, I get the opportunity to do it again. I’d love to do it again.”
Bill Russell
Nov. 3, 1979, musical guest: Chicago
Russell was the first NBA player to host SNL, doing so in season five. His monologue was pretty short and compared life in the NBA to a week hosting SNL.
Maybe the most memorable skit was “The Black Shadow,” a satire of the popular 1970s show “The White Shadow” about a white coach of a majority black high school basketball team. This skit reversed it, with a black coach of a white team and the players keeping their coach out of trouble.
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