Jalen Brunson Joked About Trading His NBA Trophy for a Watch. The Actor Said Yes.

Jalen Brunson had the Larry O’Brien Trophy in one hand and, for a split second, the thought of swapping it for a luxury watch in the other. It happened during the Knicks’ championship parade in New York on June 18, when ‘Power’ actor Michael Rainey Jr. walked up next to Brunson and started filming the MVP holding the hardware. Brunson caught Rainey Jr. in his peripheral vision, gave a sly grin for the camera, and then his expression shifted to something like shock when he spotted what was on the actor’s wrist: a pricey Audemars Piguet.

Brunson didn’t let the moment pass. He half-jokingly offered Rainey Jr. a trade — the trophy for the watch — and Rainey Jr. didn’t hesitate. “You can have this s–t,” the actor said on the video. “On God, you can have this s–t. I’m taking it off my wrist right now.”

The whole thing played out on Instagram Reels, and it’s the kind of loose, celebratory moment you get when a team wins its first title in decades. The Knicks took down the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, and the city responded with a ticker-tape parade — the franchise’s first ever. More than a million fans showed up, according to team estimates.

A Parade Full of Stars and Old Faces

Brunson was on a float with teammates Josh Hart, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Jose Alvarado, and others. The crowd stretched for blocks. Along the route, you could spot Timothée Chalamet, Spike Lee, Tracy Morgan, Ben Stiller, Fat Joe, Mariska Hargitay — a mix of Hollywood and local legends. Knicks alums Walt Frazier, Patrick Ewing, and Charles Oakley rolled through too, soaking it in with the current squad.

After the parade wrapped, the team, coach Mike Brown, and owner James Dolan received keys to New York City at City Hall. Brunson took the mic and kept it real.

“There’s a lot of people that have a lot of negative stuff to say,” he told the crowd. “There’s a lot of people who have a lot of opinions. But when you prove them wrong, you really don’t have to say s— to them. They don’t deserve it.”

Then he paused, looked around, and said: “D–n, New York, we really did it. Somehow, someway I knew we were going to find a way to get this done.”

No word yet on whether Rainey Jr. actually handed over the watch. But the video made its rounds, and for a city that waited a long time for this, even a joke trade felt like part of the celebration.