Jalen Brunson turned the 2026 ESPY Awards into a personal coronation on Wednesday evening, collecting three separate honours at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York - bookending the night with individual awards and closing it out alongside his teammates as the New York Knicks were crowned Best Team. It was the most decorated night of his career off the court, a fitting epilogue to a season in which he finally delivered the championship that Knicks fans had waited 53 years to celebrate.
Hosted by Saturday Night Live's Marcello Hernandez, the ceremony moved at a brisk pace from its opening moments, with Brunson collecting the first major award of the night before the room had barely settled. The point guard's Finals numbers underlined why the recognition was uncontested: 32.6 points per game alongside 4.6 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 2.2 steals across the championship series, numbers that carried the weight and rhythm of someone operating at the absolute ceiling of his sport - not unlike the kind of high-stakes, high-focus performance that fans of pressure-driven competition, whether on a basketball court or in a limbo slot hacksaw format, recognise as requiring a completely different mental gear. His regular season was no less commanding: 26.0 points, 6.8 assists and 0.8 steals per game for a Knicks side that finished 53-29.
Brunson won "Best Championship Performance" in the opening segment of the show, then returned to the stage hours later to claim "Best Athlete - Men's Sports," before joining his Knicks teammates for the "Best Team" award that closed the evening. In his first acceptance speech, he kept it grounded. "I am forever indebted to them, thank you," he said, after shouting out his family, coaches and teammates. It was the kind of brevity that tends to land harder than any elaborate tribute.
A Night That Honoured More Than Just Champions
While Brunson's triple dominated the headlines, the evening belonged equally to its humanitarian and perseverance moments. Jim Abbott, the former Major League Baseball pitcher who competed at the highest level for a decade despite being born without a right hand, received the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance. His speech drew one of the loudest reactions of the night. "Of all the great blessings sports has given me, that sense of belonging is the best," Abbott said - a line that resonated far beyond the theatre walls.
Steph Curry claimed the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award for his "Eat, Learn, Play" initiative, which has provided food, education resources and recreational spaces for children in the Oakland area. "When you hear Ali's name, you think about greatness," Curry said. "This award being connected to his legacy is incredibly humbling." He used his platform to push fellow athletes toward community action. "Don't ever forget you have a platform, you have a voice, you have everything you need to make a true impact - I encourage you to find your Oakland."
Figure skater Alyssa Liu took home Best Breakthrough Athlete following her Winter Olympics gold medal, speaking candidly about stepping away from the sport for two years before her comeback. "It really feels like I did break through in my own way, and for my sport," she said. UCLA basketball player Lauren Betts, named Best College Athlete alongside Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, used her moment to advocate for mental health awareness. "Your mental health is not separate from your success," Betts said. "It is the foundation of everything that you do."
Ruskan's Rescue Story Grounds the Evening
The Pat Tillman Award for Service went to Scott Ruskan, a former cross country runner at Rider University who, as a Coast Guard member, helped rescue 165 survivors of the Texas floods last July. Ruskan was visibly uncomfortable with individual credit. "There were a lot of heroes that day who aren't getting an ESPY Award," he said. "It took a complete army of people to get it done." It was among the most honest lines of the night.
Full List of 2026 ESPY Winners
- Best Championship Performance: Jalen Brunson
- Best Athlete - Men's Sports: Jalen Brunson
- Best Athlete - Women's Sports: A'ja Wilson
- Best Team: New York Knicks
- Best Breakthrough Athlete: Alyssa Liu
- Best Single-Game Performance: Shohei Ohtani
- Best Play: OG Anunoby
- Best Record-Breaking Performance: Myles Garrett
- Best College Athletes: Fernando Mendoza, Lauren Betts
- Best High School Athletes: Maddie DiMaria, Grady Emerson
- Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award: Steph Curry
- Jimmy V Award for Perseverance: Jim Abbott
- Arthur Ashe Award for Courage: Jason Collins
- Pat Tillman Award for Service: Scott Ruskan