The Best Athlete ‘SNL’ Moments This Century As Jalen Brunson Prepares to Take Stage

Fran Tarkenton. That’s who started it.

On Jan. 29, 1977, Tarkenton—weeks removed from the Vikings’ Super Bowl loss to the Raiders—became the first sports figure to host Saturday Night Live. Thus began a symbiotic relationship that has lasted decades. Whenever a sports figure attains a certain level of crossover fame, and is in the mood to poke gentle fun at themselves, Saturday Night Live awaits.

This Saturday, it will be Knicks guard Jalen Brunson’s turn after leading New York to its first NBA title in generations. The sports world is his oyster, as is the city of New York. Expect the jokes—about his short-by-NBA-standards, tall-by-human-standards height, Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama clocking him, and his Villanova brethren—to fly.

Let’s take a look back at the sports figures who’ve hosted Saturday Night Live this century—and the best moment of each of their respective episodes.

Derek Jeter

Date: Dec. 1, 2001

Historical context: Jeter helped lead the Yankees to the American League pennant in a season affected by the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York; in the World Series, he hit a walk-off home run against the Diamondbacks in Game 4 to earn the nickname “Mr. November.”

Musical guests: Shakira and Bubba Sparxxx

Highlight: “Yankee Wives,” a sidesplitting sketch where Jeter (accompanied by a loaded cast) delights in making fun of himself before fighting Yankees contemporaries David Cone and David Wells with all three in drag.

Jonny Moseley

Date: March 3, 2002

Historical context: Moseley, an American skier who’d won moguls gold in 1998 in Nagano, Japan, was teed up for post-Olympics hosting duty before finishing fourth in 2002 in Salt Lake City,

Musical guest: Outkast

Highlight: “Boston Teens: Ski Lift,” where a wildly inappropriate Rachel Dratch and Jimmy Fallon tell Moseley he “can’t make money doing extreme sports.”

Jeff Gordon

Date: Jan. 11, 2003

Historical context: At the height of NASCAR’s popularity (on NBC and in popular culture), Gordon—who won three races in 2002—was one of its most popular drivers.

Musical guest: Avril Lavigne

Highlight: “Career Day,” where Gordon plays an Air Force pilot who repeatedly upstages Seth Meyers’s sad-sack carpet salesman.

Andy Roddick

Date: Nov. 8, 2003

Historical context: Roddick won the U.S. Open that year, which makes him to this day the last American man to win a tennis major.

Musical guest: Dave Matthews

Highlight: “Tennis Player Adoption,” which sees Richard Williams (played by Kenan Thompson) attempting to add another champion to his family (and rename him Poseidon).

Tom Brady

Date: April 16, 2005

Historical context: Brady and the Patriots topped the Eagles, 24–21, in Super Bowl XXXIX, giving the quarterback three Super Bowl rings in four years at the age of 27.

Musical guest: Beck

Highlight: “Touchdown at the Carnival,” where Brady (as a number of YouTube comments point out) seems to have to go out of his way to miss a short pass repeatedly.

Lance Armstrong

Date: Oct. 29, 2005

Historical context: Armstrong won his seventh Tour de France in the summer of 2005, a result that was later revoked after a protracted doping investigation.

Musical guest: Sheryl Crow

Highlight: “Celebrity Ironman with Lance Armstrong,” which is tolerable in hindsight mainly in that it would work with any elite cyclist.

Peyton Manning

Date: March 24, 2007

Historical context: Manning led the Colts to their first AFC title in Indianapolis in 2006, and claimed his third league touchdown-passes crown with 31.

Musical guest: Carrie Underwood

Highlight: “United Way”—you already know. “Close the door!”

LeBron James

Date: Sept. 29, 2007

Historical context: James truly established himself as a pop-culture phenomenon in the 2007 season, dragging a mediocre Cavaliers roster to the franchise’s first Eastern Conference finals.

Musical guest: Kanye West

Highlight: “Read to Achieve,” in which Jason Sudeikis challenges James one-on-one and does not live to tell the tale.

Michael Phelps

Date: Sept. 13, 2008

Historical context: Phelps won eight gold medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, a record.

Musical guest: Lil Wayne

Highlight: “Michael Phelps Gets Endorsement Advice,” in which William Shatner saves a visibly out-of-his-depth Phelps with some advertising of his own.

Charles Barkley

Date: Jan. 9, 2010

Historical context: Barkley, 17 years removed from his first time hosting the show, was marking a decade as an analyst on TNT’s Inside the NBA.

Musical guest: Alicia Keys

Highlight: “Scared Straight: Trespassing with Charles Barkley,” which works primarily as a showcase for Thompson at his absolute peak.

Charles Barkley

Date: Jan. 7, 2012

Historical context: Barkley remained a force on Inside the NBA and one of America’s funniest sports personalities.

Musical guest: Kelly Clarkson

Highlight: “The NBA on TNT,” featuring Thompson as Barkley, Barkley as a lethargic Shaquille O’Neal, and Bill Hader as Ernie Johnson.

Eli Manning

Date: May 5, 2012

Historical context: Manning steered the Giants to their second Super Bowl win in five years (both against the Patriots) three months prior to hosting.

Musical guest: Rihanna

Highlight: “Embarrassing Text Message Evidence Proves a Man’s Innocence,” in which Manning plays a man under extreme duress while being tried for murder (with Sudeikis counseling and Hader presiding).

Ronda Rousey

Date: Jan. 23, 2016

Historical context: Rousey embarked on a long reign as the UFC’s women’s bantamweight champion that brought her considerable crossover popularity in 2015, even after her upset loss to Holly Holm in November.

Musical guest: Selena Gomez

Highlight: “Teacher Trial with Ronda Rousey,” a showcase for Pete Davidson (then just 22) in which Rousey and Cecily Strong play teachers accused of an inappropriate relationship with him.

Charles Barkley

Date: March 3, 2018

Historical context: The NBA’s mid-2010s popularity boom cast an even greater spotlight on Barkley, who remained sports television’s premier entertainer.

Musical guest: Migos

Highlight: “Hump or Dump,” where Barkley’s flat line-reading actually works in his favor as he plays a game-show contestant on the brink.

J.J. Watt

Date: Feb. 1, 2020

Historical context: Watt, a three-time AP Defensive Player of the Year, was one of football’s most dominant players of the 2010s (and had a charismatic personality to go with it).

Musical guest: Luke Combs

Highlight: “Robbie,” a Rudy parody that sees Watt verbally dress down Chris Redd before throwing him into lockers ahead of a CFP game.

Travis Kelce

Date: March 4, 2023

Historical context: Kelce—not yet romantically linked to musician and future wife Taylor Swift—won his second Super Bowl in a thriller against the Eagles in February 2023.

Musical guest: Kelsea Ballerini

Highlight: “Straight Male Friend,” in which a natural Kelce plays Bowen Yang’s supremely low-maintenance (if emotionally stunted) pal.

Jalen Brunson

Date: Sept. 26, 2026

Historical context: Brunson led the Knicks to their first NBA title since 1973 in June.

Musical guest: Katseye

Highlight: To be determined.

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