Who Is The King of New York Sports?

Back in April, we set ourselves the task of ranking the most powerful athletes in New York sports. With the NBA and NHL seasons giving way to the WNBA and MLB, with football off in the distance, it felt like time for an update. 

First, let us clear a few things up. The point of this exercise is not to choose the best or most famous athlete, broadly speaking, in New York. It is to determine who is the king—who has the most juice, who is the talk of the town, who’s killing it the hardest—right now, at this particular moment. So, while a few objectively more famous and more accomplished people will be left off this list, it’s probably because they are not in season, or going through a slump, or simply on the backburner of tabloid interest.

As stated before, we will be updating this list periodically—so if your favorite athlete isn’t included this time, or you think they should be higher, there’s always next time.

10. Daniel Jones

Team: New York Giants

Position: Quarterback

NEW YORK FACTOID: He struck an endorsement deal with Poland Spring, the bottled water that powers the entire Tri-State area.

Danny Dimes is not one for social media—his three Instagram posts this year are his first since 2020—but he continues to steady a Giants’ ship that wobbled through the post-Eli years. His right hand of competence makes him both a sought-after spokesman and one of the current kings of the city.

9. Justin Verlander

Team: New York Mets

Position: Starting Pitcher

NEW YORK FACTOID: Verlander is in his first year as a Met, and as such, he’s still in his tourist era.

His most recent new guy activity was taking a boat out to get an up-close look at the Statue of Liberty with his wife—supermodel Kate Upton—along with Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole and his wife, Amy. While the Mets have fallen short of expectations in the first half of the season, there’s still a lot of baseball to be played, and Verlander’s last three outings (against three potential playoff tames in the Yankees, Astros, and Brewers, no less) have been solid.

8. Mikal Bridges

Team: Brooklyn