For a mayor whose six months in office have been defined by ideological fights, the Knicks playoff run has handed Zohran Mamdani a rare moment of universal appeal. The Democratic socialist walked into an affordable-housing press conference last week to the tune of Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca” — the song that topped the charts in 1999, the last time the Knicks made the Finals. His administration is organizing watch parties around the five boroughs. And on Wednesday, he signed an executive order “repealing bedtime” so city children can stay up late for the first Finals game.
“It is one of the most unifying things across the city of 8.5 million people where we have 8.5 million opinions,” Mamdani said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
The mayor’s own fandom predates his tenure. In March, Mamdani slipped into Brooklyn’s Barclays Center wearing a Knicks jersey, a baseball cap and a mask, and watched the game from the nosebleeds with friends — unrecognized by most attendees. Unlike past New York mayors who sat courtside, Mamdani said he simply wanted to carve out time to support the team.
“You always want to carve out a little bit of time to just support the team,” he said.
As the playoffs progressed, Mamdani retained his cheap-seat habits but also stepped into a more prominent public role. He was spotted by fans at a playoff game against the Cleveland Cavaliers last month, again in the upper sections where tickets ran upward of $700.
Rooting for the hometown teams has long been a politically advantageous tradition for New York mayors. Former Mayor John Lindsay rallied the city around the 1969 “Miracle Mets,” leveraging the baseball team’s late-season surge to bolster his re-election campaign. Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani revered the New York Yankees, which won four World Series championships during his two terms. Oprah Winfrey dubbed Giuliani “America’s Mayor” at a Yankee Stadium service for the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The current run has ensnared other politicians as well. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul fumbled a shot at President Donald Trump’s fandom. “I’d ask him to name the starting lineup of the 1993 Championship team and see how he does,” Hochul quipped — a gaffe, since the Knicks have not won a championship since 1973. Trump, after receiving an invitation from the Knicks owner, said he is considering attending a Finals game at Madison Square Garden. When asked at a press conference last week whether he would sit with the president, Mamdani demurred: “I’ll leave the president to watch the Knicks as he wants to watch the Knicks.”
The mayor’s basketball fandom is a relatively recent development. Mamdani, whose family came from Uganda and settled on Manhattan’s Upper West Side when he was seven, grew up following soccer and cricket. Evan Roth Smith, a political consultant and childhood friend of the mayor, recalled that visiting the Mamdani household meant watching England’s Premier League.
“We were watching Arsenal, even if the rest of us didn’t know what a corner kick was,” Smith said, referring to the mayor’s favorite soccer club.
Growing up in New York turned him into a Knicks fan, Mamdani said. One of his favorite memories was attending a 2011 game at Madison Square Garden where guard Toney Douglas tied a then-franchise record by making nine 3-pointers. When point guard Jeremy Lin went from a bench warmer to an improbable star during a two-week stretch in 2012, Mamdani said he was glued to a screen at his college in Maine.
The current Knicks roster has also captivated him. Mamdani singled out forward Josh Hart for his relentless intensity. “It is in many ways a reflection of New York City hustle,” he said.
The mayor said he has played pickup basketball at city courts, including at Brooklyn Bridge Park, but acknowledged his style lacks finesse.
“All I do is foul and talk trash on the court so I wouldn’t say I compare myself to anyone on the team,” he said.
Andrew Kirtzman, the communication strategist and Giuliani biographer, said New Yorkers are good at spotting a phony, but Mamdani’s embrace of the Knicks appears authentic.
“The Knicks give him an opportunity to talk about the city in a way that’s nonpartisan,” Kirtzman said.
Mamdani has not beaten the drum on the economic imbalances the playoffs have thrown into relief — a seat at Madison Square Garden now costs a small fortune, with Hollywood stars and the business elite holding the best views. He has said tickets should be more affordable but has instead focused on the unifying power of the playoffs and urged New Yorkers to cheer from bars, watch parties and their homes.
Asked whether he will attend any more Finals games, Mamdani said he is still figuring that out: “I’m trying to figure that out right now.”