Even sports stars can be caught in cases of mistaken identity.
New York Knicks guard Tyler Kolek found himself at the center of an awkward mix-up during the team’s NBA Championship parade on Thursday, June 18, when New York police officers appeared to mistake him for a member of the crowd.
ESPN reporter Kimberley A. Martin shared a video via X that showed Kolek, 25, enthusiastically celebrating with fans along the parade route, stopping to high-five supporters as he made his way through the festivities.
At one point, two officers approached the basketball player and appeared to try to move him away from the team party.
In the video, Kolek could be seen reacting to the kerfuffle. He appeared to be trying to explain to the officers that he was in fact a Knicks player.
“The cops mistook Tyler Kolek for a fan 😩 #alwaysknicks,” Martin captioned the post.
The moment quickly went viral, with fans poking fun at the mishap.
“Get this man a Knicks roster PLEASE!!! Respect Tyler Kolek’s name 😩,” one X user wrote in response to the clip.
For his part, Kolek seemed to take the incident in stride. Reference to the incident via Xhe joked, “I swear I’m on the team bro 😂😂😂.”
Tyler Kolek.
(Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)The championship parade marked a big celebration for the Knicks, who defeated the Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 on Saturday, June 13 to win their first championship since 1973.
After the historic victory, the Knicks own James Dolan confirmed it his team received an invitation from the White House, where they are expected to meet President Donald Trump.
“We just received an invitation from the White House that we accepted,” Dolan confirmed during a WFAN Sports Radio interview on Wednesday, June 17.
He added: “We still need to work out the details.”
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In a previous interview, Dolan shared that he asked his team members to go to great lengths to get “an edge” in the sports competition and told them to refrain from sex.
“I had this idea that you might have to give up sex for the next 10 weeks,” Dolan said on the Monday, June 15, episode of the “Roommates Show” podcast hosted by the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart. “You don’t have to give up sex for the next 10 weeks – but like the Spartans, you know what Spartans are? They denied themselves, right? So they can get an advantage. Get the advantage.”
He continued: “Go home, talk to your wives and tell them — don’t tell them you don’t want to have sex, don’t tell them it was my idea — but let them (to) know what this is going to be like, what your commitment is going to be and how they have to sacrifice as well.”
