It’s Monday, June 8, 2026, and the Knicks are back in the NBA finals for the first time since 1999, and they haven’t won since 1973. Tonight, the beloved New York team—which currently has won 13 consecutive games and leads 2-0—returns to Madison Square Garden to continue their face-off with the San Antonio Spurs. Coincidentally, 27 years ago, it was the Spurs who beat out the Knicks 4-1 for the championship title, making Game 3 all the more of an anticipatory experience. Nerves are running high, and so is celebrity attendance.
Now, it’s no secret that sports fans are superstitious, and when the stakes are this high, that feeling is multiplied exponentially. Wear a specific pair of shoes more than once and notice that your team won both times? Well, those are your game day shoes till the end of time. Celebrities, many of whom are born in or based in the Big Apple, are no exception. The Knicks super fan Spike Lee often sports his prized 1970 championship ring on a chain around his neck. Some fans even consider Anne Hathaway a good luck charm herself. After OG Anunoby crashed into her courtside in 2024 and Karl-Anthony Towns’s The Devil Wears Prada 2 cameo in 2026, both players went on immediate streaks.
Padma Lakshmi watches the New York Knicks vs. San Antonio Spurs in 2013.
Photo: James Devaney
Last week, ahead of Game 2, Padma Lakshmi took to Instagram to share some throwback photos of her at the Garden. Many Vogue staffers were quick to notice the leopard pumps she called out in the comments. She wrote: “A lot of you have asked about these @maisonalaia shoes. I’ve has [sic] them for years and after the Knicks won a couple times, I started wearing them for good luck every time I went to @atthegarden.” For Lakshmi, the discovery was a bit of a happy accident. “The Knicks have never lost when I’ve worn the Alaïa shoes to Madison Square Garden,” Lakshmi tells Vogue. “And it’s funny because who would wear heels to a game, but I must have been running from somewhere else that first time. For a while, my daughter thought her big noise-cancelling headphones were good luck too.” (Her sporty superstition is nothing new: While living in Milan, the then-model would only sit on a black and red pillow for good luck at AC Milan matches.)
Jordyn Woods, who is engaged to Towns, has also been incredibly vocal about her game-day outfits, specifically her orange ostrich Tux Clutch Mini handbag from her own brand, Woods by Jordyn. “Once playoffs start, everything becomes part of the ritual if we keep winning,” Woods told Vogue during the Eastern Conference finals. “We’re nine wins in, and now I have my lucky Woods by Jordyn bag, my game-day GRWMs on TikTok, and a watch I refuse to take off. At this point, I’m not risking changing anything.” (The Knicks have since won three more consecutive games.) How lucky for her that she designed her own good luck charm.
