On Thursday, June 18, an estimated two million New Yorkers gathered in Lower Manhattan for the Knicks’ first-ever ticker-tape parade celebrating the team’s NBA championship win over the San Antonio Spurs. It was a joyous, if crowded affair, with player-and-celebrity-filled floats traveling up Broadway amid a sea of blue and orange-clad fans. (And, of course, plenty of confetti.)
The parade concluded with a ceremony at City Hall, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani celebrated the Knicks’ championship win — the team’s first since 1973 — with a speech name-checking Knicks players through the decades and highlighting how jubilant moments can unite New Yorkers in powerful ways.
“So often when this city comes together, it is because we are forced to by a moment of tragedy or adversity,” he said. “What a gift it is to be brought together by pure, unfiltered joy. For as long as live, we will remember this feeling of a city together, a city alive, a city overcome by happiness.”
That joy was evident on Thursday, along the parade route, in the Lower Manhattan bars catering to overflow crowds and at the City Hall ceremony, where Mayor Mamdani handed Knicks players like Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Jose Alvarado keys to the city to massive cheers.
If you missed the parade, or want to relive the magic, peruse our photos below.
