In a bit of scheduling mayhem, the New York Knicks will host the Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden on Monday evening for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. What else is going on that night in Manhattan? Oh, right — the Met Gala, the splashiest congregation of celebrities this side of the Mississippi.
Guests at the gala are expected to begin arriving at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the Upper East Side around 5 p.m. and continue streaming in for several hours. The Knicks are set to tip off at 8 p.m. in Midtown in front of close to 20,000 fans.
One affair calls for ball caps, the other ball gowns. If you’re hoping to get anywhere near either event, you probably should have called your Uber yesterday.
N.B.A. playoff games often overlap with the Met Gala, which is traditionally held on the first Monday in May. The Knicks last played a home game the night of the gala in 2024, against the Indiana Pacers. (The Knicks won, 121-117.) The Knicks had been expected to travel to Boston to kick off the second round of playoffs this year until the 76ers upset the Boston Celtics in the first round.
The convergence of both events poses a conundrum for high-profile Knicks fans like Spike Lee and Timothée Chalamet. Lee skipped a Knicks playoff game in Boston to attend the 2025 Met Gala, where he was on the host committee. True to form, he still hit the carpet wearing a Knicks hat and orange sunglasses.
Chalamet, however, did not show at last year’s Met Gala. As celebrities — including his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner — scaled the museum steps, he posted an Instagram story of himself watching the Knicks game unfold on an iPad. He was later asked about the dueling events on Carmelo Anthony’s podcast, “7PM in Brooklyn.”
“I had to be locked in, man,” Chalamet said.
The guest list for the Met Gala is carefully guarded, so it’s not known for certain whether the Knicks superfans were even invited this year. (Representatives for Lee and Chalamet did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday.) But assuming that the Met wanted them back, the two men will have to decide whether they would rather spend Monday night with Jalen Brunson or Anna Wintour.
Callie Holtermann reports on style and pop culture for The Times.
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