The city has been waiting 53 years for this. On Sunday, June 14, 2026, the New York Knicks will get the parade their fans have been planning in their heads since the Patrick Ewing days.
City Hall confirmed the details this week. The parade will run up the traditional Canyon of Heroes route, ticker tape and all, ending at City Hall for a ceremony with Mayor Adams and the team. The route starts at Battery Park and snakes up Broadway. Speeches at City Hall. Trophy on display. The works.
The decision to hold the parade on Sunday instead of waiting until midweek is a smart one. The team just got back from San Antonio late Saturday. Fans are already in town. Schools are out for the summer. The city wanted to give every Knick fan in the country a fair shot at getting to lower Manhattan, and a Sunday morning works better than a Thursday afternoon.
If you are heading down, here is what to know. Get there early. The last Yankees parade in 2009 was a madhouse, and that was a team that had won repeatedly. This is the first Knicks championship in 53 years. Every Knicks fan over the age of 60 has been waiting their whole adult lives for this. Every Knicks fan under 30 has never lived through one. The crowds are going to be enormous.
Jalen Brunson is expected to ride near the front of the procession with the Finals MVP trophy. OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Josh Hart will be on the same float. Tom Thibodeau will get a float of his own. So will team president Leon Rose and owner James Dolan, which is going to draw a mixed reception from the Garden faithful.
Here is the part of the day to watch for. Brunson speaking. The 28-year-old Finals MVP grew up around the league because his father coached. He spent every day at Villanova being told he was too slow and too small for the NBA, and he has spent the last four years in New York being told he was not a true No. 1 option. He is going to have something to say from that podium at City Hall, and Knicks fans are going to remember it forever.
The other moment worth watching for is the Carmelo Anthony cameo. Sources close to the situation say the franchise has invited every former Knick from the last 30 years who is in town to come out and join the celebration. Anthony, Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Charles Oakley are all reportedly expected. The visual of Ewing standing next to Brunson on a float would put a bow on five decades of Knicks history in a single frame.
If you cannot be there in person, every local station will carry the parade live starting at 11 AM. ESPN will pick it up nationally. The City Hall ceremony will be around 1 PM.
The 1973 Knicks waited a long time for a replacement on the parade floor. They finally got it. Enjoy Sunday, New York. You earned this one.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
