Knicks nuptials: NBA champions parade spurs surprise proposals, rearranged wedding plans
Love and basketball were in the air in New York City on Thursday as thousands flooded downtown Manhattan to celebrate the New York Knicks' long-awaited championship parade -- and the NBA stars weren't the only ones sporting new rings.
Knicks star point guard Jalen Brunson and his team, who secured the city's first NBA title in 53 years on Saturday, paraded up the fan-lined streets through the "Canyon of Heroes" for a ticker-tape parade and celebratory Key to the City ceremony in City Hall Plaza surrounded by a sea of blue and orange and nonstop revelry.
Knicks fans get engaged during champions parade
As the players passed by on floats and confetti drifted through the air along the route up Broadway2, some Knicks fans took advantage of the magical moment.
An unidentified man wearing blue basketball shorts and a Knicks hat was spotted in a video obtained by ABC News getting down on one knee, pulling out a red box and holding up a ring.
A woman standing in front of him wearing a white Nike shirt with a blue graphic of Brunson's iconic three-point gesture looked shocked, putting her hand over her mouth as she nodded and was seen saying, "Yes."
"It was such a beautiful moment of unity amongst fans," Jeremy Fuentes, who posted the video on TikTok, told ABC News. "You can tell from the video that everyone who was there were so happy to celebrate and spread the love."
Fuentes' video of the proposal at Murray and Church St. quickly amassed more than 32,000 likes within a few hours of being posted.
"The engagement was the cherry on top to an already monumental day," Fuentes added.
Knicks celebration at City Hall forces fans to find new wedding venue
For Brooklyn-based couple Katherine McCall and Mike Katsnelson, their favorite NBA team's championship celebration on Thursday was an unexpected twist on their planned nuptials.
"I woke up to a text from our photographer on Sunday morning, 'Yay to the Knicks winning, but I think we might have a situation for your marriage ceremony,'" McCall told ABC News.
McCall and Katsnelson had planned for months to tie the knot at City Hall in downtown Manhattan on June 18, with family flying in from across the country, who had also recently surprised them Game 3 tickets to the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden as an early wedding gift.
But the couple had to pivot and come up with a plan B after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the Knicks' parade and championship celebration details, which coincided with the date, time and venue of McCall and Katsnelson's wedding ceremony.
After coming up short on appointments at other city hall locations and seeing online that fellow brides were in the same predicament, McCall did some online sleuthing and found a last-minute officiant and venue at Prospect Park where the couple could say "I do."
"If you told us six months ago we'd have to move our wedding because the Knicks won the championship, we’d have signed up for that immediately," Katsnelson told ABC News. "We're happy to make the sacrifice. We just didn't think we'd actually have to."
In the end, it was still a day to remember, and McCall said she even added "a little Knicks snippet" into her vows.
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