The New York Knicks’ 2026 NBA Championship trophy might currently be on display at the American Museum of Natural History, but it still made an appearance at the team’s ring ceremony Tuesday night. Well, sort of. At the NBA tip-off, Knicks guard Josh Hart debuted a new hairstyle that featured his braids intricately fashioned to look like the Larry O’Brien trophy. It might not have helped the champs win the first game of the season against the newly fronted LeBron James Philadelphia 76ers, but it was a crowning achievement in men’s hairstyling.
For four years, Hart has been turning to Sandra Finn to fashion his braids into elaborate designs, from the Yankees logo to an “I <3 NY” design. The two connected when Hart DM’d her on Instagram after admiring the work she’d done. (She’s also braided Houston Rockets player Gerald Green’s hair.) Their first look, she recalls, was the Villanova “V,” the 31-year-old’s alma mater. Now, once or twice a year, Hart will ask the Houston-based hairstylist to do his braids for a special moment—like game 5 of the Knicks’ run during the finals this past summer.
As soon as the Knicks won it all for the 2025-26 season, Finn knew she wanted to do a trophy in Hart’s braids one day. Her desire proved to be “serendipitous,” because Hart asked her late last month if she would do exactly that ahead of the team’s ring ceremony.
Sandra Finn
Sandra Finn
“I said yes right away, not even knowing if I could, but I was going to make it happen somehow,” Finn tells GQ. “What I did, for example, with this trophy, Josh sent me the picture and I used my iPhone and the marker to see where things would go in my head. I know how hair works, so I see, OK, is it possible to take this route, that route, that wouldn't work. Sometimes I use a pen and paper.”
For the trophy braids, Finn says the whole process took about two and a half hours, with Louis Rexach Jr.—who goes by the handle @earsthebarber—doing the fade. Though the braids were not the most intricate look she’s done, they took longer than something like the Yankees logo, which took an hour and a half.
The hardest part about fashioning the trophy was nailing the basketball itself. “Drawing a perfect circle can be hard,” she says. Figuring out how to turn his hair into the lines on the basketball proved tricky as did making sure nothing ended up too bulky. Ultimately, she worked it out so that the look was a faithful interpretation of the award.
Finn notes that other athletes she works with simply ask for “clean, straight backs” and tend to be “more serious and quieter.” That’s not the case with Hart.
“Josh, he's carefree, funny, and doesn't take life too seriously,” she says. “He's artsy, and you can tell that, in my opinion, through the hairstyles that he chooses.”