How the parade unfolded
• New York partied like it’s … 1973. The Knicks’ NBA championship parade on Thursday wound through Lower Manhattan to City Hall, where the players were presented with symbolic keys to the city at a ceremony with the mayor.
• At City Hall, the mayor hailed the city’s unity during the championship run, saying it was good to be brought together by joy rather than tragedy.
• Thousands of pounds of shredded paper rained down on Knicks players and celebrities riding aboard dozens of floats and vehicles in the ticker-tape parade, with music and cheers filling the air.
The Knicks took their victory lap as New York's team – and America's, too
In The City That Never Sleeps, it’s no wonder Knicks fans shunned shuteye to begin lining up overnight for the most anticipated celebration in generations.
The championship parade was set to start at 10 a.m., but Knicks fans hoping for a spot along the historic if cramped Canyon of Heroes began camping out in lower Manhattan after midnight. Viewing pens along the route opened at 6 a.m. and filled up in less than two hours, the NYPD said.
It added up to a melting pot of joy.
“This is just awesome, I mean look at everyone here,” said Jack Appello, who arrived just before 6 a.m. for his spot. “It’s absolutely crazy here. Everyone’s got Knicks fever in New York, and that’s all we can ask for. It’s been 53 years. 53 years no more.”
Until last Saturday night, the Knicks hadn’t won the NBA title since 1973, and even then there was no city-wide parade. So you could forgive New Yorkers for being a bit excited.
“This has united the city so much. This is America’s team,” Knicks fan Eric Bodon said. “We’ve never been this happy.”
So is it America’s team, or just New York’s? Is there even a difference when we’re talking about the country’s cultural, economic, population – and sports! – center?
This Knicks team won the championship on the backs of repeated comebacks, notably in Game 4 of the Finals, when the Knicks went down by 29 and at one point had a 99.6% chance of losing. To win, they took on the character of the city, the ever-on-message Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at the championship ceremony.
“The Knicks did not just win for New York City, they won like New York City. What is New York if not your back up against the wall? A dream that feels just out of reach, a rent payment you don’t know how you’ll ever make?
“What is New York if not 99.6% of the world stacked against you? And who are New Yorkers if not people who hear those odds and smile, who look at a 0.4% chance of success and ask, ‘Why are you giving me a head start?’”
Finally, Alicia Keys closed with her anthem “Empire State of Mind.” Just behind her, Knicks players put their arms around each other, held aloft their keys to the city, and bellowed out to the crowd that iconic chorus: “New Yooooooooork!”
One hand in the air for the big city. And one finger, too, soon to be adorned with a championship ring.
The biggest US city unites to become "the smallest town"
CNN’s Omar Jimenez explains how New Yorkers who probably wouldn’t make eye contact with anyone on the subway are now high-fiving each other “in a state of pure jubilation.”
Confetti showers down, wrapping up the Knicks’ historic championship celebration
Cannons shot blue, white and orange confetti into the air as the celebration of the New York Knicks’ NBA championship ended this afternoon at New York City Hall.
The players, city keys in hand, sang along to Queen’s “We Are the Champions.”
"We really did it, dawg," Brunson tells crowd
Jalen Brunson, the MVP of the NBA Finals, stood on stage in front of New York City Hall and said to the joyous crowd, “Damn, we really did it, dawg.”
“Somehow, some way, I knew we were gonna find a way to get this done,” he added.
Brunson, ever appreciative of his teammates, thanked them for “giving me confidence every single day,” and thanked the fans, saying, “y’all are some pretty hard critics.”
“There’s a lot of people who have a lot of opinions,” Brunson said. “But when you prove them wrong — you really ought to, you don’t have to say sh*t to them. Nah. They don’t deserve it.”
Alicia Keys serenades Knicks parade with "Empire State of Mind"
Alicia Keys was right — it is a concrete jungle where dreams are made of, and New Yorkers are making it known.
As Keys performed her hit song “Empire State of Mind” during Thursday’s ceremony, fans, Knicks players and coaches sang along in delight.
New York City's first lady elevates Knicks merch to high fashion
New York City’s first lady has entered the chat.
Artist Rama Duwaji appeared alongside her husband, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, in Lower Manhattan Thursday to join the celebratory ticker-tape parade in honor of the Knicks, who won their first NBA championship in 53 years last week.
For the occasion, Duwaji wore a multicolored, one-shoulder top made of classic Knicks graphic T-shirts, featuring a twist-detailed design.
She added a festive touch with a pair of statement orange, basketball-inspired pom-pom earrings.
Knicks owner thanks fans, to mixed response
New York Knicks owner James Dolan spoke briefly at the Knicks ceremony at City Hall, thanking fans for their support.
“Thank you for waiting 53 years,” Dolan said to tepid applause and boos from some in the crowd.
Dolan is a controversial and polarizing owner, having been involved in lawsuits and public feuds with journalists, New York City officials, celebrities and fans.
“We’re going to keep working to bring you even better basketball, although it’s hard to imagine that we get much better than this,” Dolan said.
Mamdani gives the Knicks keys to NYC
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani gave each Knicks player a symbolic key to the city.
The mayor, sporting a Knicks jersey under his suit, grinned from ear to ear as he high-fived, hugged and shook hands with team members — many of whom towered over him.
The keys don’t actually open any doors, but the tradition dates back to medieval times, when cities were secured by gates.
CNN’s Sneha Dhandapani contributed to this report.
"This is New York City's championship," head coach says
Knicks head coach Mike Brown attributed the team’s historic success to “everybody” during his remarks.
“I’m proud of everybody for helping accomplish this great feat,” Brown said. “The energy today, and all around New York, is off the charts.”
“And I want to thank you all for it,” he added. “Let’s keep this energy going, baby, because this championship, this championship is about you guys. This is New York City’s championship.”
“Our city has come together as one,” Mayor Mamdani says
Addressing the celebratory crowd, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani praised the city’s overwhelming unity during the Knicks’ historic playoff run.
“New York City has just had two of the most magical months in as long as any of us can remember. Over these past weeks, as the Knicks kept winning, our city has come together as one,” Mamdani said.
“When this city comes together, it is because we are forced to by a moment of tragedy or adversity. What a gift it is to be brought together by pure, unfiltered joy,” he added.
“We waited without ever knowing if this day would come, and we waited because we knew deep down, in our sick, suffering hearts, that it would,” the mayor said.
Surprise proposal adds more jubilation to a euphoric crowd
Two fans celebrated much more than the Knicks’ triumph on the court when they became engaged at the victory parade.
Throngs of fans cheered as a man got down on one knee near Church Avenue and Murray Street. His new fiancée clutched her mouth with her hand and nodded as her future husband slipped a ring onto her finger.
Sanitation crews get to work after historic Knicks ticker-tape parade
Now that the Knicks championship parade has ended, more than 700 sanitation workers will be hitting the streets to clean up.
Collection trucks, mechanical brooms, street sweepers, along with workers wearing backpack leaf blowers, will clean up what the sanitation department expects will be more than 40,000 pounds of ticker-tape and debris from Broadway.
Workers wearing bright green, some in Knicks hats, which are officially part of the uniform for the day, could be seen getting straight to work as the parade started to wind up.
Ceremony at City Hall — where Knicks will receive keys to city — begins
The celebration isn’t over now that the ticker-tape parade that brought out waves of Knicks fans to honor the team along the Canyon of Heroes has come to an end.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is about to host a ceremony at City Hall, where the NBA Champion New York Knicks will be presented keys to the city, a recognition in honor of their historic achievement.
The ceremony has kicked off with a performance by a youth dance team.
Mamdani holds Knicks "lucky bag"
The “lucky bag” has made its way into the mighty hands of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
For those of you who haven’t been following the magical journey, Jordyn Woods, Karl-Anthony Towns’ fiancée, carried the symbolic bright orange bag to almost every game of the NBA Finals.
The bag became a staple and a superstition among fans - if she brought the bag to a game, the Knicks won, and if she didn’t, they unfortunately lost.
The one time she didn’t bring the bag was for Game 3, when strict security measures were in place at Madison Square Garden due to President Trump’s attendance.
The bag, from her brand Woods by Jordyn, sells for $125 and is currently on backorder as fans have continuously clamored for it to sell out.
Aerial footage captures massive crowds celebrating the Knicks' championship
Helicopter footage captured the massive crowds that turned the streets of New York City blue and orange as the Knicks paraded through Manhattan.
Fans behind barricades roared as Knicks players aboard floats made their way to City Hall.
Spike Lee, Ben Stiller are among the celebrities in the parade
Celebrities. They’re just like us.
Spike Lee and Ben Stiller are out there celebrating the championship with Knicks fans. In their case, they are on floats in the parade.
This comes as no surprise as both have been longtime fans of the team and have been routinely spotted at games throughout the season and throughout the years.
Among the other celebrities spotted at the parade are Mariska Hargitay, Martha Stewart and Fat Joe.
Jalen Brunson shows off trophy to fans
In an already-iconic moment from the Knicks victory parade, fans stretched out their arms for pictures and a chance to touch the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, which was carried to the crowd by MVP Jalen Brunson.
“We’ve never been this happy,” lifelong fan says
Eric Bodon didn’t mind trekking in from Long Island before 6 a.m. to secure his plum spot on the parade route. He’s been waiting most of his 43 years to see the Knicks win an NBA championship.
“My whole life I’ve been watching them play,” Bodon said, who has successfully turned his entire family into Knicks fans.
The Suffolk County paramedic didn’t just see his favorite players in person. He also enjoyed a short performance from the Wu-Tang Clan during the parade.
“This has united the city so much. This is America’s team,” Bodon said. “We’ve never been this happy. We usually say, ‘How you doing?’ – and we don’t care how you’re doing. This means everything to me.”
Planning for Knicks parade started before the Finals were over
Even before the New York Knicks clinched the NBA championship last weekend with a monumental comeback, New York City officials were already making plans for a possible ticker-tape parade.
“This work has been happening behind the scenes, just in case we were to win Game 5,” New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the morning after the Knicks’ victory.
The ticker-tape parade is a first for the Knicks, but New York City has staged many such parades for heroes, sports teams and politicians.
“They’re using a plan that is very similar to the ones they’ve used in the past,” John Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, said.
But the massive crowds expected to attend the Knicks parade meant city leaders had to tweak the old ticker-tape playbook, Miller said.
“They’re really using elements of the plan that they use for New Year’s Eve — which is a massive crowd — because they knew this was going to be one of the biggest ever, if not the biggest ever,” he said.
The NYPD deployment involves almost one-third of its total uniformed force and exceeds the number of officers deployed at prior major events, including New Year’s Eve in Times Square and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
“And you’ve got layers and layers of counterterrorism teams and detection teams that you don’t see working in the background,” Miller said.
Mamdani previews keys to the city on "GMA"
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani revealed the keys to the city on “Good Morning America” Thursday morning.
The mayor is expected to present each Knicks player with a gold key at a City Hall ceremony after the parade today. The symbolic honor traditionally given to those who have significantly contributed to the city.
The key doesn’t actually open doors. It traces back to medieval tradition, when cities were secured by gates.
The keys will be the first given by the Mamdani administration.
Mamdani said he ordered the keys months ago, in advance of the Knicks’ championship win.
“You got to plan. You got to be ready. As a fan, you never want to talk about it, but as the mayor, you want to be prepared,” he said with a laugh.
