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New York Knicks ticker-tape parade and celebration: Live updates

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Last updated: Thursday, June 18, 2026 9:06PM GMT
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NEW YORK (WABC) -- It's estimated that over two million people celebrated the Knicks on Thursday as the Parade of Champions honored the team's first NBA championship since 1973.

Following the parade, Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted a championship celebration and Key to the City ceremony on City Hall Plaza.

After the ceremony, Alicia Keys sang her iconic hit "Empire State of Mind."

The ticker-tape parade was a first for the Knicks, who did not celebrate with the famed tradition during their last wins in 1970 or 1973.

The celebration comes after an awe-inspiring playoff run which saw the Knicks secure the team's first NBA title in more than 50 years with a 4-1 series win over the San Antonio Spurs.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Jun 18, 2026, 1:11 PM GMT

Fans break through barricade to access Knicks parade in FiDi

Watch the moment some fans broke through a barricade to access the Knicks parade in the Financial District of New York City.

Jun 18, 2026, 1:08 PM GMT

Some fans are looking for a better view of the parade

Some Knicks fans are trying to get a better view of the Knicks parade in Lower Manhattan
Jun 18, 2026, 12:48 PM GMT

Determined Knicks fans, deprived of trains, turn to feet and wheels to get downtown

Knicks fans hopped on Citi Bikes for the trek downtown.
Knicks fans hopped on Citi Bikes for the trek downtown.

Hordes of Knicks fans poured out of the West Fourth Street subway station in Greenwich Village Thursday morning as trains were skipping areas south of Canal Street. An E train had just been diverted to Broadway-Lafayette instead of its normal destination of the World Trade Center, where overcrowding was a problem because of the Knicks-loving multitudes.

At West Fourth Street, Knicks fans got inventive fast. Determined to make it downtown, they began to march down Sixth Avenue. The more adventurous of the lot -- and efficiency minded -- hopped on Citi Bikes to facilitate the jaunt down toward the packed Canyon of Heroes where the parade was two hours from starting.

-- Rolando Pujol

Parade goers walk down Sixth Avenue toward the Canyon of Heroes.
Parade goers walk down Sixth Avenue toward the Canyon of Heroes.
Jun 18, 2026, 12:22 PM GMT

2 hours before the parade

Thousands of Knicks fans packed Lower Manhattan hours before the parade celebrating their NBA championship
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