This friendship is a slam dunk.
Jalen Bruzon confessed that he looks for “Law & Order: SVU” actress Mariska Hargitay at every New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden.
The 29-year-old point guard opened up on “The Richard Jefferson Show,” calling her his “No. 1.”
“I love her to death (and) she knows it,” he added in a resurfaced episode ahead of Wednesday’s Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals, when the Knicks will once again face the San Antonio Spurs.
He also named Ben Stiller, Spike Lee and Tracy Morgan, staples of the Knicks’ celebrity lineup, as his other favorite audience members.
There’s love in the air between Branson and Hargitay, as the Emmy Award winner gushed on Monday’s Today with Jenna & Sheinelle that she was Branson’s “good luck charm.”
“I love him,” Hargitay said of the Knicks player ahead of Game 3 with former SVU co-star Christopher Meloni.
She also admitted that she used Branson as an “inspiration” while preparing for her Broadway debut in the one-woman play “Every Brilliant Thing.”
“I just thought about him, his inspiration, his humility and his work ethic that says, ‘You can do hard things. No matter what, you can do hard things,'” she explained.
Hargitay called Branson “a very unique person,” adding that Branson is a “wonderful human being” who promised to come see her play.
Additionally, during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers in June 2025, she explained how their friendship blossomed.
“They say all the celebrities are jealous because Ben Stiller is a fan and he has a really nice seat, just like you, but Jalen Brunson only hugs you after games,” Seth Meyers said, approaching the topic.
“And this was the choice that Jalen Brunson made,” he added. “You didn’t barge onto the court and hug him! So how did that first hug with Jalen after the game happen?”
Hargitay continued, “I think Jalen kind of grew up on SVU…I think like a lot of people, he felt a sense of intimacy and security that he felt growing up on SVU.”
In fact, Brunson previously admitted that SVU is his “pregame show.”
“I always loved that show,” he said, noting that he had “never” been “impressed by a superstar” until he met Hargitay in person. “When I saw her, I thought, ‘Oh my God.’ The first time we met was amazing. We talked about everything,” he told Stiller on the “Roommates Show” podcast.
Since then, this unlikely duo has continued to support each other on and off the court.
Branson and his wife Alison Marks attended the premiere of Hargitay’s film “My Mama Jane” at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival.
