The New York Knicks’ championship created plenty of winners. After ending a 53-year title drought, the franchise became a bigger financial opportunity for the wealth-management industry. And a familiar face from Villanova is advising some of the NBA champions.
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Several Knicks players are reportedly clients of Goldman Sachs’ wealth-management business. And Matt Kennedy, a former Villanova teammate of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges, is employed by the 302.22 billion wealth management firm.
Kennedy’s path looks nothing like those of his more famous former teammates, and he’d probably be the first to admit it. His role at Villanova was limited. Twelve games during the 2018 national championship run, 16 total minutes on the floor. But he was in that program, around that group, part of the same culture that produced Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges.
The 6-foot-2 guard at Villanova had his biggest college distinction away from the basketball court. In 2018, Kennedy won the NCAA Elite 90 Award at the Final Four after posting the highest GPA among the student-athletes competing at the event.
He was a finance major and carried a 3.897 GPA, which is why the role at Goldman Sachs is not at all surprising. Matt Kennedy first interned at Goldman Sachs before being a full-time employee. He later transitioned to wealth management about two years ago.
Now, he works as a financial adviser at the firm’s Manhattan operation. The Villanova bond appears to have lasted well beyond graduation. Bridges served as Matt Kennedy’s best man at his wedding last year, while Kennedy has continued to see his former teammates socially. He has also had tickets to Knicks games for several years
In a June interview with The Athletic, Kennedy praised Mikal Bridges for never cutting corners, and he had a front-row seat to what that actually looked like.
Bridges was not supposed to be an NBA star when he arrived at Villanova. He ranked 96th in his recruiting class and redshirted as a freshman. But Kennedy watched him show up four hours before tipoff to get his work in, day after day. That kind of commitment, sustained over time, is what turned an overlooked recruit into one of the league’s most durable players. The Knicks star that exists now was built in those extra hours.
“A lot of the groundwork that he got that year really just paid dividends and allowed him to kind of rapidly improve the following years,” Matt Kennedy said. “And then even as he got good, and even to this day in the league, the dude just never misses a game. On days off, he’s getting massages and treatment, and he’s willing to drive an hour to go get a special treatment because his knee hurts. He’s never, ever, ever cutting corners.”
Mikal Bridges has not missed a game in six of his eight NBA seasons. While describing Josh Hart, Matt Kennedy noted that his competitiveness was just as striking.
“He could just get to another gear, and he just was not gonna be stopped. He’s probably the most competitive guy that I was around during my time at Nova.”
And Kennedy also described Jalen Brunson’s work ethic as “maniacal.” So the connection with Goldman Sachs has a deeper meaning.
Players, managers and team employees received more than $9 million in playoff bonuses and compensation after the Knicks won the title. The stars also gained additional visibility, potentially opening the door to larger endorsement opportunities. For financial advisers, that is a valuable moment.
Goldman Sachs manages more than $4 trillion across public and private markets. Its wealth management operation has grown into a central pillar of the firm’s broader strategy, generating recurring fee revenue that insulates the business from the volatility of investment banking and trading.
The bank has not disclosed which Knicks players it advises or how much of their wealth runs through Goldman. That part stays private. What Kennedy brings to the table is something harder to replicate: a perspective that only comes from having been in the locker room.
Former players understand the financial pressures, the short career windows, and the trust dynamics that outside advisors rarely navigate well.
Now those relationships run straight through one of Wall Street’s biggest wealth management operations.