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Jalen Brunson isn’t sure yet if his New York Knicks will visit the Trump White House after winning the NBA championship and thought it was “really cool” that Taylor Swift was cheering on the team courtside at Madison Square Garden during Game 4 of the NBA Finals. As for Swift’s star-studded wedding at MSG and the rumors that the Knicks’ starting five were invited? He found out the same way the rest of the world did (online) but feels his team’s play may have influenced her choice of wedding venue.

The King of New York revealed all this during a conversation last week at Variety’s inaugural Sports & Entertainment Studio in New York, which included talks with Super Bowl-winning quarterback Russell Wilson; NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson; NCAA champion and ESPN analyst Jay Williams; Kristin Lemkau, CEO of J.P. Morgan Wealth Management; Kristyn Cook, EVP at State Farm; and Carolyn Braff, VP of Sports and Entertainment at PepsiCo.

When asked whether, as media reports indicated, he and the Knicks’ starting five got the invite to the Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce wedding at MSG, Brunson offers, “It’s a great question. I found out the same way the rest of the world did. So, I don’t know if it was true or not, but I did not attend.”

He does think, however, think the team’s historic NBA championship run, earning the Knicks its first title in 53 years and rousing the entire city, could have played a part in Swift and Kelce getting married at the place dubbed the “World’s Most Famous Arena.” “Maybe. Maybe,” he replies. “But knowing how weddings work, I feel like that may have been predetermined a while back, but especially knowing how tightly scheduled the Garden is, I don’t know. But it was definitely, probably, clearly a memorable night for them.”

Swift, meanwhile, received some blowback from Knicks’ fans for cheering the team on courtside at Game 4 of the NBA Finals at MSG, even though she’d recently appeared courtside with her then-fiancé Kelce, an Ohio native who was rooting for the opposing Cleveland Cavaliers against the Knicks. But Brunson enjoyed having her root for his team. “Yeah, it’s cool. It’s really cool having her there,” he maintains. “I feel like her being in Cleveland for courtside one game, obviously, I think Travis and the Kelces are from Ohio, so I get that. And she’s been at the Knicks’ games before. So, I mean, whoever comes, as long as you’re cheering us on, we appreciate it. And I think that was probably a really good game to come to as well.”

As for whether the Knicks will visit the Trump White House, as their owner James Dolan indicated, Brunson can’t say for now. “That’s something that we actually haven’t discussed as a team. And so obviously, people are making assumptions and saying everything, but together we haven’t discussed it yet. And so we’ll cross our bridge when we get to it.”

When Brunson was informed that if they do visit, they’d be the first NBA team to visit the Trump White House, he replied, “Interesting… Interesting.”

Brunson was joined by Kristin Lemkau, who not only serves as the CEO of J.P. Morgan Wealth Management but also recruited the New York Knicks star to the JPMorganChase Athlete Council, a “collection of nine athletes who will meet every few months to reflect on their own experiences and inform how JPMC approaches its athlete clients,” with a focus on providing information and resources to younger athletes on how to manage their money. Dwyane Wade is the chair of the Athlete Council, and is joined by Brunson, Tom Brady, Sue Bird, Ally Love, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Kayvon Thibodeaux and A’ja Wilson. “We observed an emerging problem of athletes having a unique set of financial circumstances, which is their careers are often short-lived,” explains Lemkau. “Three years, I think, is about the average professional career. Only 2% of college athletes will ever make it to the pros. And then when their career ends, they need to find a second career and they’re often not as well-equipped to do that or they didn’t actually get a college degree because they went pro right away. And one of the things I’m really proud of in my business, we can offer advice to anyone. We can take somebody who has $5 or Jalen Brunson. And so, I think there’s a responsibility, particularly as this money is going to kids younger and younger and younger, to get them to think about longevity.”

Brunson agrees, adding, “Once you start making money, everyone thinks that you’re going to be making this type of money for the rest of your life. And it’s not the case. Like she said, you’re making this money for a very short amount of time. A lot of people have very short careers, and you don’t really end on your own accord… But to be able to have the mindset early of knowing that, ‘Hey… this income isn’t going to last for my entire career or even beyond my career, so how can I be resourceful and start to be smart with my money at an early age?’ It’ll help.”

Following the Knicks’ championship win, in which Brunson was named NBA Finals MVP and scored 45 points in the close-out game, he had surgery to repair a tendon in his left wrist. Fans — including this writer — were surprised that Brunson turned in a Michael Jordan-esque performance in the Finals with a bum wrist, and he sported a cast to the interview. “I was more in pain when I wasn’t in the game versus when we were actually playing. I feel like the adrenaline took over. But yeah, it was definitely an obstacle, but we found a way through,” he describes, adding, “Because it’s my tendon and my structure, my wrist is fine. There was soft tissue that was holding my tendon and it kept flipping and snapping over the bone every time I shot, every time I flicked my wrist, and so clearly it was causing pain, causing friction… I’ll be in this [cast] for about another six weeks, and then from that point on, it’s just my rehab after that. But I should be good.”

Brunson co-hosts the popular Playmaker HQ podcast “The Roommates Show” with his Knicks and Villanova teammate (and good pal) Josh Hart, and says he will be “starting a media company.” He’s also keen to cameo on his favorite show, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” starring his favorite fan, Mariska Hargitay.

“I would love to,” he says of an “SVU” cameo. “Mariska has become a great friend of mine. She was an idol. She was someone I looked up to. I think obviously I feel like everyone who watches this show feels like she’s just a role model for all. And so, she’s still that for me, but then obviously getting to know her, know her family — our family is intertwining. It’s been a great friendship and she’s been very supportive of me and I try to be very supportive of her as well.”

The Knicks’ championship win has caused a flurry of NBA free agency activity, with a number of rival teams adding major pieces — Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat, Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers — to challenge them for the throne. Even though the Knicks lost backup center (and defensive maestro) Mitchell Robinson to the Boston Celtics, Brunson still believes that his team has what it takes to run it back. “Oh, I still have confidence. I will always have confidence in myself and my team,” he declares. “Not because we won, because I know the type of character guys that we have. I know how hard my team works. I know how hard I work. I know what our mindset is. Our mindset is just to get better every single day. And so even though, yes, we did win this past year, going forward that literally means nothing.”

Grupo Mórbido founder/CEO Pablo Guisa has boarded two projects at the Costa Rica Media Market (CRMM) as a producer, a strong endorsement to the revived market’s growing status as a genre hub.

Both projects, “Greetings from Maryland” (“Saludos desde Maryland”) by Ricardo B’atz’ of El Salvador and “What Lives in the Storm” (“Lo que trae la tormenta”) by Miguel Angel Ferrer won the Mórbido Co-Production Award at the market, which means an investment of 10% to 20% percent in the productions’ respective budgets from the company. As a producer, Guisa will be engaged at every phase, from creative development to financing.

Both projects were selected from the Fantastic Lab Central America & Caribbean — the genre film development initiative launched by the Fantastic Pavilion, the Costa Rica Media Market and Grupo Mórbido last year— which in its first edition received 55 submissions from across the region, of which 15 were chosen for intensive development and six finalists announced at Cannes.

“Coming from a country where filmmaking is built through perseverance rather than industry, partnering with Pablo Guisa and Mórbido is a unique opportunity. Their experience in horror cinema gives ‘Greetings from Maryland’ the chance to grow beyond its local origins and connect with international audiences. Together, we hope to create a horror film that is both terrifying and deeply human, where supernatural fear becomes a reflection of the real horrors faced by migrant workers in the United States,” said B’atz.

B’atz, who plans to film in El Salvador and is best known for his social realist debut feature “Hoy,” is delving into genre filmmaking for the first time with “Greetings…” Pic centers on undocumented workers demolishing an abandoned house who unleash a cursed entity that hunts them one by one, transforming the horrors of invisible immigrant labor into supernatural terror.

“We believe in the power of strong creative alliances. Partnering with Pablo Guisa and Grupo Mórbido at this stage in the development of ‘What Lives in the Storm’ is incredibly meaningful. Their vision, experience, and commitment to bold genre storytelling make them the ideal partners as we continue bringing this film to life,” noted Ferrer, who has made several genre shorts and is aiming to shoot “Storm” on the outskirts of Costa Rica’s Caribbean town of Limón.

A Venezuelan-Cuban-American whose feature “The Shadow of the Sun” represented Venezuela at the 96th Academy Awards. “What Lives in the Storm” follows a reclusive ex-military doctor who shelters a desperate mother and daughter during a fierce Caribbean hurricane, only to find that a horrific creature has also followed them into his home.

B’atz’ and Ferrer become the first two Latin American directors to join Blood Bank, the new global initiative by Grupo Mórbido and the Fantastic Pavilion, created to “address a structural problem in the global fantastic film industry: The supply is everywhere. The pipeline doesn’t exist,” said Guisa, whose 30+ years in the genre biz has seen him work with the likes of Adrián García Bogliano, Laura Casabe, Cristian Ponce, Edgar Nito, Julio Hernández Cordón, Patricio Valladares and Isaac Ezban.

“At the Blood Bank, we manage three types of currency: talent, IP and money. Like any bank, we can offer these as separate services to third parties — we can sell talent services, we can sell or license IP, we can finance projects independently. Each of the three pillars can operate on its own for different clients. But we can also work across all three simultaneously — developing original projects with our in-house talent, working with our existing IP library, and producing or co-producing the result. Blood Bank manages assets and builds value across an entire ecosystem — from idea to global release.” Guisa explained.

“With Mórbido — Fest, TV, Film — Manticora handling distribution, international sales and theatrical release, the Fantastic Pavilion and a presence at every major market in the world, we practically know everyone in the industry. That means we can manage the entire pipeline: from a high concept to pitching at industry events, developing, packaging, co-producing, financing, building marketing strategies, market screenings, festival circuit, theatrical release, streaming, world sales, pay TV, special edition Blu-rays, merchandising and licensing,” he said, adding: “Basically, we can take a project from idea to finished product and get it to audiences worldwide. And now we are doing exactly that — on a global scale.”