This friendship is a slam dunk.
Jalen Bruson confessed that he looks for “Law and Order: SVU” actress Mariska Hargitay at every New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden.
The point guard, 29, made the revelation on “The Richard Jefferson Show,” calling her his “No. 1.”
“Love her to death [and] she knows it,” he added in the resurfaced episode ahead of Wednesday’s Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals, where the Knicks will once again take on the San Antonio Spurs.
He then named Knicks celeb row staples Ben Stiller, Spike Lee and Tracy Morgan as some of his other favorite spectators.
The love is mutual between Brunson and Hargitay as the Emmy winner, 62, gushed about being Brunson’s “good luck charm” during Monday’s episode of “Today with Jenna & Sheinelle.”
Ahead of attending Game 3 with former “SVU” co-star Christopher Meloni, Hargitay said of the Knicks player, “I love him.”
She also admitted to using Brunson as her “inspiration” while prepping for her Broadway debut in the one-person show “Every Brilliant Thing.”
“I just thought about him and his inspiration and his humility and his work ethic, to say, ‘You can do hard things. No matter what, you can do hard things,’” she explained.
Calling him “so singular,” Hargitay added that Brunson is “a magnificent human” who promised to come see her play.
Additionally, during a June 2025 appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” she explained how their friendship blossomed.
“Ben Stiller — who’s a fan and also has very nice seats like you — said all the celebrities are jealous because Jalen Brunson only hugs you after games,” Seth Meyers said, approaching the subject.
“And this was a choice Jalen Brunson made,” he added. “You didn’t storm the court and hug him! So how did your first postgame embrace with Jalen come to pass?”
Hargitay then explained, “I think Jalen sort of grew up on ‘SVU’ … I think he felt this, as many people do, intimacy and safety that one does growing up on ‘SVU.’”
In fact, Brunson has previously admitted that “SVU” is “a pregame show” for him.
“I’ve always loved that show,” he said, noting he’d “never” been “super starstruck” until meeting Hargitay in person. “I saw her, I was like ‘Oh s–t.’ The first time we met, it was awesome. We talked and everything,” he told Stiller on the “Roommates Show” podcast.
Since then, the unlikely duo has been supporting each other on and off the court.
Brunson and his wife, Alison Marks, made an appearance at the premiere of Hargitay’s film “My Mom Jayne” at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival.
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