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OG Anunoby wanted to go live.

He just did not want to lose a new phone in the process.

The Knicks forward explained Monday night during an appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” what happened during his viral Instagram Live from the locker room celebration after the franchise won the NBA championship on Saturday night.

Anunoby briefly went live as the Knicks celebrated their 94-90 Game 5 win over the Spurs, which secured the franchise’s first championship in 53 years.

Champagne was being sprayed around the locker room, with Karl-Anthony Towns appearing in goggles and declaring, “We live, baby, we live.”

That was when Anunoby realized he had a problem.

“I meant to go on Live, like going on Live was my goal,” Anunoby told Fallon.

“But then they were spraying the champagne, and I just got that phone. I didn’t want the phone to get messed up, so I was like, let’s turn this off, and I didn’t know how to do it.”

During the original stream, Anunoby could be heard repeatedly asking how to end the video before the clip cut out after roughly 25 seconds.

The explanation got a laugh from Fallon and his Knicks teammates, who were on the show as part of the team’s post-title media tour.

Anunoby said someone eventually took the phone and helped him turn off the stream.

The moment quickly became one of the funnier scenes from the Knicks’ championship celebration, partly because of how calmly Anunoby appeared to panic while the rest of the locker room was in full party mode.

It also fit the forward’s low-key reputation.

Anunoby has become a fan favorite in New York not only for his defense and clutch postseason moments, but also for his dry personality and understated postgame interviews.

His defining moment in Game 4, when he tipped in the winning shot at Madison Square Garden to give the Knicks a commanding 3-1 series lead.

But amid all the champagne and chaos after Game 5, Anunoby had a more immediate concern.

He had meant to bring fans inside the celebration.

Anunoby just had no idea how to get out of it before his new phone got soaked.

Karl-Anthony Towns shared his first NBA title with Knicks legend Patrick Ewing.

The two met on the Frost Bank Center court in San Antonio after New York won Game 5 because Towns said he knew how much the Knicks’ first championship in 53 years meant to Ewing, a legend of the team.

“It was so amazing to see how this win healed so many people in New York, fan-wise and even to the alumni, and Patrick,” Towns said on “The Howard Stern Show” on Tuesday.

“When I hugged Patrick, it was like he finally was able to exhale and see a trophy in a Knicks jersey.”

Ewing spent 15 seasons with the Knicks and made the playoffs 13 times and the Finals twice.

He was one win away from beating the Rockets in 1994, but the Knicks lost Games 6 and 7. In 1999, he was similarly close but tore his Achilles tendon in the Eastern Conference finals and missed the championship series, which the Spurs eventually won.

Ewing, a Hall of Famer, was named a Knicks basketball ambassador in 2024.

“To finally be able to see that Larry O’Brien in [Ewing’s] hands and not in Michael Jordan’s and all these other people’s hands, I mean, there was just so much healing that I was stunned,” Towns added.

“I didn’t realize how impactful it really is, and I still honestly don’t think I understand the true magnitude of what we’ve done.”

Towns was born in Edison, New Jersey, about 30 miles from New York City, and grew up a Knicks fan due to Jeremy Lin.

He said it meant a lot to him to see the impact the win had on the fans and to be a part of a memory the kids in New York will carry with them.

“You never realize a little kid watched the Knicks play, win a championship with his father, and now he’s the one with his son celebrating the same moment that him and his father,” Towns said.

Every game of the 2026 NBA Finals was a nail-biter.

And the television ratings reflected as such.

The Knicks-Spurs series was the most-watched NBA Finals since 1998 — the last gasp of the Michael Jordan Bulls dynasty — by averaging 20.6 million viewers across the five games, ESPN said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Finals, the highest-rated ABC has had, saw a 100 percent increase in viewership over the 2025 seven-game series between the Thunder and Pacers. This year’s Finals was also the top program on TV each day.

On top of all the macro-level data, Game 5 averaged 24.5 million viewers and peaked at 33 million, becoming the most-watched Game 5 since the 1998 Finals.

The peak viewership of Game 5 reached nearly 10 million more people than the Knicks’ epic 29-point comeback in Game 4, which had a viewership high of 23.2 million.

The Knicks’ title, their first in 53 years, has had New York and the rest of the tri-state area buzzing.

The team’s heroes have been making plenty of TV hits, with Finals MVP Jalen Brunson joining the “Today” show on Tuesday, one day after he and his New York teammates were feted on the “Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon and “Good Morning America” on Monday.

The celebration hasn’t ended, however, as Karl-Anthony Towns is expected to make an appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on Tuesday before New York City hosts a parade up the Canyon of Heroes on Thursday morning. The parade is expected to use an eye-popping 1.25 tons of confetti.

The Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James appear to be working on a reunion. 

According to ESPN insider Brian Windhorst, the Lakers and James are actively negotiating a new contract that would bring the NBA’s all-time leading scorer back to Los Angeles for a record-setting 24th season.

Speaking Tuesday on ESPN Cleveland, Windhorst said the expectation around the league remains that both sides will ultimately reach an agreement, though the next two weeks could prove critical as free agency approaches.

“I think LeBron’s intention is to play,” Windhorst said. “And I think the focus right now is making a deal with the Lakers. Right now he’s allowed to negotiate with the Lakers and I believe they are negotiating. I believe they are going back and forth.”

LeBron has been vacationing in Europe for the last few weeks.

Windhorst added that the structure and value of a potential deal could be influenced by what Los Angeles hopes to accomplish in free agency. If negotiations stall, teams such as the Cleveland Cavaliers could become serious contenders for James’ services. Still, the prevailing belief around the NBA is that a reunion in purple and gold remains the most likely outcome.

The partnership has already become one of the most successful eras in franchise history.

Since signing with the Lakers during the summer of 2018, James has transformed the organization from a rebuilding team into a perennial contender. He delivered the franchise’s 17th NBA championship in 2020, earned Finals MVP honors and helped restore relevance to one of the league’s most iconic brands.

In eight seasons with Los Angeles, James has appeared in more than 500 games (including playoffs) and is averaging 25.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game. He became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in a Lakers uniform and helped lead them to a first-round upset over the Houston Rockets in the 2026 NBA Playoffs without L.A.’s top two leading scorers in Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. 

Now, with Doncic positioned as the franchise’s future, the Lakers are trying to ensure James remains part of its present. The clock is ticking toward free agency, but all signs point toward both sides finding common ground and extending one of the most significant partnerships in modern NBA history.

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One of the staples of the Lakers over the last four decades has been legendary PA announcer Lawrence Tanter. However, a new voice will echo through Crypto.com Arena moving forward.

On Tuesday, the Lakers announced that Tanter would be moving to the role of Special Advisor for Game Presentation, stepping down from his PA announcer position.

The team’s statement included a quote from Jeanie Buss:

“Lawrence Tanter has been an integral part of the Lakers gameday experience for more than four decades, setting the tone for countless memorable moments with his professionalism, energy and signature booming voice. Since the 1980s, LT has narrated every chapter of Lakers basketball, connecting generations of fans, players, coaches and staff while becoming a trusted and unforgettable part of the Lakers experience. I am incredibly grateful for everything he has given to this franchise.”

Tanter did not serve as the team’s PA announcer during the playoffs. According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, that came after he suffered a stroke in March.

Tanter suffered a stroke in March, sources told ESPN, causing him to miss the Lakers’ last six home games of the regular season, plus the playoffs. Tanter continues to rehab from the health setback, sources said. Jason Barquero, the P.A. announcer for the Lakers’ G League affiliate, finished the season in Tanter’s absence.

Tanter began his time as the PA announcer in 1982 and has been the constant, booming voice in The Forum and Staples Center throughout the years. Even in 2020, Tanter recorded introductions to play in the playoffs to provide a needed sense of normalcy for fans.

The team has not announced a successor.

Speaking on behalf of all Lakers fans, here’s to the best for Tanter in life after the Lakers. Home games won’t be the same without him around.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.

NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks' 94-90 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night to capture their first NBA title in 53 years averaged 24.5 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, making it the most watched Game 5 since 1998.

The audience peaked at 33 million, as Brunson was putting the wraps on a 45-point performance as the Knicks rallied from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

The finals averaged 20.6 million according to Nielsen, the highest since ABC and ESPN started carrying it in 2003. It is only the third time since 1999, the finals have averaged at least 20 million.

Golden State's victory over Cleveland in five games in 2017 averaged 20.47 million while the 2016 finals, where the Cavaliers defeated the Warriors in seven games, averaged 20.2 million.

Last year's finals between Oklahoma City and Indiana averaged 10.31 million across seven games.

The 1998 series between Chicago and Utah, where Michael Jordan won his sixth and final NBA title, averaged 29.04 million in six games.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

The real NBA season is about to begin.

All the on-court action is in the rearview, meaning the drama, trades, draft and free agent mayhem is coming into focus. For a league that thrives on those conversations, this is everything that fans and some teams have been waiting for.

In the meantime, the party is still raging on in New York after the Knicks ended a 53-year championship drought and that puts the NBA in an interesting spot. For the first time in a long time, the Knicks are a team that everyone wants to replicate.

There's also a chance the champions, led by Jalen Brunson, proved something else with this playoff run. Perhaps it isn't about checking off boxes in one particular order. The Knicks showed that a champion can come in all shapes and sizes as long as the collection of talent works together.

That inspiring, movie-like run could have a dramatic impact this offseason in a league that often chases stars.

LeBron James headlines the group of free agents to be, while Giannis Antetokounmpo'strade market looms large. There are other quality players like Austin Reaves who could change teams, meaning anything can happen once free agency begins.

More: What we're hearing about latest Giannis Antetokounmpo trade talks

So when does it begin? Here's what to know about NBA free agency in 2026.