The Knicks' Starting Five Made the Ebony Power 100. So Did Jay-Z, MKBHD, and a Children's YouTube Creator.
Brunson, Hart, KAT, OG, and Bridges land on Ebony's 2026 Power 100 alongside Jay-Z, Megan Thee Stallion, Tope Awotona, and 90+ other honorees after ending New York's 53-year NBA championship drought.
C-Tribe Editorial
Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and Mikal Bridges are all on Ebony's 2026 Power 100 list. All five starters from the team that just ended a 53-year championship drought, winning New York's first NBA title since 1973, according to NBA.com's Finals coverage. Brunson was named unanimous Finals MVP after averaging 32.6 points, 4.6 assists, and 4.2 rebounds through the series against the San Antonio Spurs, per Bleacher Report. When Ebony puts an entire championship starting five on a cultural influence list alongside Jay-Z and Megan Thee Stallion, it's telling you something about what the Knicks mean to New York right now.
This year's Power 100 theme is "The Stories We Shape," focused on narrative ownership and cultural impact, according to PR Newswire. The honorees will be celebrated at the Power 100 Gala on November 9 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment, the Emmy-winning company behind the BET Awards and Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Why Do Five NBA Champions on One List Tell a Bigger Story?
The Knicks finished 53-29, third in the Eastern Conference, and then went on a playoff run that included a historic 29-point comeback in Game 4 of the Finals, the largest in NBA Finals history, and 13 consecutive playoff victories, the second-longest streak ever, according to ESPN's postseason coverage. They beat the Spurs 4-1 in the Finals, clinching in a 94-90 Game 5, per NBA.com. They were the first team to win both the NBA Cup championship and the NBA championship in the same season.
Brunson did it without the usual superstar theatrics. No trade demands. No cryptic social media posts about loyalty. He signed a four-year, $104 million contract with the Knicks in 2022 after leaving Dallas, per Basketball Reference, and then made Madison Square Garden the loudest building in basketball through consistent excellence and a team that genuinely likes playing together. In the clinching Game 5, he scored 45 points including 15 in the final 7 minutes and 43 seconds of regulation, according to NBA.com's play-by-play. He and his father Rick Brunson became the first father-son duo to win the Finals together, with Rick on the coaching staff, per Bleacher Report.
Hart brings the blue-collar intensity that makes the Knicks' identity work. Towns gives them scoring punch and floor spacing. Anunoby is the defensive anchor who takes the toughest assignment every night. Bridges connects the whole thing as a versatile two-way wing. Each has earned individual recognition, but all five landing on the Power 100 in the same year reflects how far the Knicks' revival has traveled beyond basketball. Ebony's list measures cultural influence, not just athletic achievement. Five Knicks making the cut means this team crossed from sports story to cultural moment.
Who Else Made the 2026 Power 100 and What Does the Mix Tell You?
Jay-Z's presence barely needs explaining at this point. Roc Nation's sports management division, entertainment ventures, and investment portfolio continue to operate at institutional scale. Megan Thee Stallion has built a brand that extends beyond music into fashion, beauty, and philanthropy. Keke Palmer spans acting, hosting, producing, and cultural commentary, representing a generation of talent that refuses to stay in one lane.
The full list spans ten categories including a new one: the Junior Bridgeman Business Vanguard, named for the late Ulysses "Junior" Bridgeman, founder of Ebony's parent company Bridgeman Sports and Media, which acquired Ebony out of bankruptcy for $14 million in 2020, according to Front Office Sports' reporting. This year's Business Vanguard honorees include Tope Awotona (Calendly founder and CEO) and Byron Allen (Allen Media Group founder), per Variety.
The STEM Trailblazers category includes Morgan DeBaun (Blavity and AfroTech founder), Dr. Ayanna Howard (Spelman College President), and Dr. James Manyika (Google SVP), according to TheGrio's coverage of the list. The Influential Creators category features Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) and iShowSpeed, a pairing that says something about how Ebony defines influence in 2026. The Artists in Residence category honors Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, Debbie Allen, and Pulitzer winner Colson Whitehead. Gina Prince-Bythewood, who is directing Children of Blood and Bone for a January 2027 release, is among the Entertainment Powerhouses, per Variety.
The Leaders in Sports category extends beyond the Knicks to include Naomi Osaka, Nneka Ogwumike, and Renee Montgomery. 50 Cent joins Jay-Z and Megan Thee Stallion among the Music Innovators. The Generation Next honorees include Graceyn "Gracie" Hollingsworth of Gracie's Corner, the children's media brand, and Quenlin Blackwell, according to TheGrio.
What Does "The Stories We Shape" Actually Mean in 2026?
Narrative ownership has been a recurring conversation across Black media for years, but it carries new weight in 2026. AI-generated content, algorithmic curation, and platform consolidation are actively reshaping who gets to tell stories and who gets to profit from them. A list that puts Jalen Brunson next to Jay-Z next to Morgan DeBaun next to MKBHD is drawing a map of where narrative power actually sits right now.
Ebony has been drawing that map for a long time. The magazine was founded on November 1, 1945, by John H. Johnson in Chicago, making it the first Black-oriented magazine in the United States to achieve national circulation, according to History.com. The Power 100 list itself originated in 1971 as "Most Influential Black Americans," per Ebony's editorial history. Eden Bridgeman Sklenar, Junior Bridgeman's daughter, now chairs the company, with former BET Networks and CNN executive Michele Thornton Ghee serving as CEO, according to NewsOne.
Over 55 years and across ownership changes, the list has consistently done something mainstream publications rarely attempt: surface names that broader media will discover years too late. When Ebony put a name on the Power 100 in 2015, Forbes covered them in 2018. That gap has narrowed as Black cultural figures command more mainstream attention, but the list still functions as both recognition and forecast, identifying influence that is building as often as it honors influence at its peak.
Does the Power 100 Still Matter When Influence Is Everywhere?
The Power 100 has always been about more than celebrity. A list that includes tech founders, university presidents, community organizers, and children's media creators alongside NBA champions and Grammy winners is making a specific argument: that power in 2026 is distributed, not concentrated. It lives on basketball courts and in boardrooms, on streaming platforms and in research labs.
Whether a list can capture that distribution is a fair question. Influence moves faster and fragments more quickly than any annual ranking can track. But Ebony's Power 100 has outlasted most of its competitors by doing something deceptively simple: asking every year who actually shapes Black culture and then putting those names in print. The 2026 list, with NBA champions and tech founders and filmmakers and a children's YouTube creator, reflects a year where influence came from every direction at once. The gala on November 9 at the Hollywood Palladium will bring those names together for one evening. The influence they represent will keep working long after.
