Man, when Ebony dropped its 2026 Power 100 list, it felt like the perfect snapshot of where Black excellence is right now. On one side you’ve got Jalen Brunson, the Knicks captain who just helped end a 53-year championship drought in New York. On the other you’ve got Keke Palmer, the multi-hyphenate who keeps rewriting what a career in entertainment can look like. They’re not the only names on the list, but headlines treating them as the faces of it make sense. This isn’t just another awards rundown. It’s a reminder that sports and culture aren’t separate lanes anymore.
The list, themed “The Stories We Shape,” recognizes people who are actively shaping culture, driving economic impact, and expanding representation in real time. Ebony has been doing this for generations, and the 2026 class spans everything from music and film to business, STEM, and community work. The honorees will be celebrated at an invite-only gala on November 9 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, produced with Jesse Collins Entertainment.
**The Knicks Core Gets Its Flowers**
Brunson lands in the Leaders in Sports category alongside teammates Josh Hart, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and Mikal Bridges. Ebony didn’t single him out as some lone superstar. They recognized the group that brought championship basketball back to New York after more than half a century. That detail matters. Plenty of lists would have just spotlighted the Finals MVP. This one treated the core like the unit it actually was during the run.
For Knicks fans who lived through the long wait, this hits different. Brunson averaged 32.6 points in the Finals and dropped 45 in the Game 5 clincher on the road against the Spurs. The series went 4-1, and New York rallied from double-digit deficits in all four of its wins. He became the face of a franchise that spent decades as the punchline for every other contender. Now he’s sharing space on a major cultural list with the same guys who locked in defensively and closed games with him. That’s the kind of recognition that feels earned rather than manufactured.
Ebony CEO Eden Bridgeman put the broader point plainly in a statement to Variety: “For generations, Ebony has been where Black excellence is named, documented and celebrated, and the Power 100 carries that responsibility forward. This year’s honorees are shaping culture in real time, from the stage and the screen to the boardroom, the lab and the neighborhoods they serve. Recognizing them isn’t only about honoring what they’ve achieved – it’s about recording the history they’re making so the generations behind them can see what’s possible.”
She added that the theme reflects what the publication has always stood for: “the belief that narratives matter because they influence what people see, what they believe, and what they believe is possible. The stories we choose to tell become part of our culture, our history, and our future.”
**Palmer’s Versatility Keeps Expanding**
Palmer sits in the Entertainment Powerhouses category with Questlove, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Warner Bros. Television Group chairman Channing Dungey, and NBCUniversal executive Pearlena Igbokwe. She’s not just an actress who got lucky with a couple of hits. She’s producing, hosting, building brands, and staying in the conversation across multiple platforms. Recent moves include taking over for Carson Daly as host of the upcoming NBC spinoff The Voice: Celebrity, landing on the Hollywood Walk of Fame’s 2027 class, and fronting campaigns that keep her visible beyond traditional awards seasons.
That range is why her inclusion feels natural next to Brunson’s. One built his platform on the court in the biggest media market in the league. The other has spent years proving she can move between acting, music, television, and business without losing the audience that grew up with her. Both are controlling their own stories instead of waiting for someone else to define them. In a sports blog that usually sticks to box scores and trade rumors, that crossover is the part worth paying attention to.
**Why This List Lands Differently**
Ebony’s Power 100 has always carried weight because it treats Black achievement as present-tense leadership rather than pure nostalgia. The sports category this year also includes Naomi Osaka, Nneka Ogwumike, Renee Montgomery, and Elana Meyers Taylor. Music Innovators features Jay-Z and Megan Thee Stallion. Artists in Residence includes Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz. Generation Next highlights Victor Wembanyama. The range shows the list isn’t chasing the same five names every year. It’s trying to capture the people actually moving the needle right now.
For Brunson specifically, the timing is perfect. The championship parade drew more than two million people. He’s been everywhere this summer, from television appearances to major events, and the wrist surgery he needed after the Finals hasn’t slowed the public celebration. Getting named alongside his teammates on a list this visible extends that moment beyond basketball Twitter and New York sports radio. It frames the title as cultural impact, not just a trophy in the case.
Palmer’s spot does similar work on the entertainment side. She’s been in the industry since she was a kid, yet she keeps landing roles and deals that treat her as a current force rather than a former child star. Sharing a category with established executives and creatives like Questlove and Prince-Bythewood signals that her influence is institutional, not just viral.
**What Comes Next**
The November gala will put a lot of these people in the same room. That’s the kind of night where conversations start that don’t show up in the official program. Bridgeman described it as more than recognition: “This is more than a night of recognition. It is the annual convening of the people shaping the story of what’s next.” For Knicks fans, the hope is that the recognition fuels the next chapter instead of becoming the peak. Brunson and the core already proved they can close. Now the question is whether the organization builds around that success the same way other title teams have.
Palmer’s trajectory looks just as open. Hosting a high-profile network show and receiving Walk of Fame recognition suggests the next phase is still being written. Neither of them needs this list to validate their work, but lists like this still matter because they set a public record of who was driving culture in a given year. Future generations can look back and see the Knicks championship core and a multi-hyphenate entertainer treated as peers in influence.
**The Bigger Picture**
At the end of the day, this is a sports story only because Brunson and the Knicks made it one. The championship gave Ebony a clear reason to spotlight the group, and the list gave the accomplishment a platform outside the usual sports media cycle. Palmer’s inclusion keeps the conversation from becoming purely basketball. Together they show how influence actually travels in 2026: through performance, through ownership of narrative, and through the ability to stay relevant across different rooms.
If you’re a Knicks fan, this feels like another piece of the long-overdue celebration. If you follow Palmer’s career, it’s another marker that the work keeps compounding. Either way, the list does what it’s supposed to do. It names the people shaping the moment and invites everyone else to pay attention to how they’re doing it. The November gala will be the public celebration, but the real story is already out there in the work itself.
What do you make of Brunson and the Knicks core getting this kind of recognition alongside someone like Palmer? Does treating the team as a unit change how you see the list, or is it just the natural result of what they accomplished last season? Drop your take.