New York Knicks faithful know Tyler Kolek well. He’s a beloved reserve who just finished his second NBA season as part of a Knicks team that won the franchise its first NBA championship since 1973. And although the 25-year-old Kolek started only one game during the 2025-26 campaign, he made 70 total appearances, including the playoffs, and notably scored 16 points in a Christmas Day win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
A couple of New York Police Department officers must not have been watching that magical comeback. They mistook Kolek for a fan who had jumped the barricades during the Knicks’ NBA championship parade on Thursday.
Kolek, with his hair flowing out the back of a Knicks championship hat, excitedly high-fived a collection of elated fans along the parade route, as captured in a video by ESPN’s Kimberley A. Martin.
That is, until he was briefly held up by NYPD officers. Kolek appeared to exasperatedly explain that he’s a member of the team, not a fan. Another authorized member of the Knicks’ parade came over to assist Kolek, and NYPD let the second-year guard go on his way.
Unsurprisingly, though, the mix-up has gone viral.
But that’s not the only clip of Kolek that’s made its rounds on social media Thursday. The other is from his own Instagram Live.
The Knicks became the first team in league history to win both the NBA Cup and the Larry O’Brien Trophy in the same season. The NBA Cup is a midseason competition that was introduced in 2023.
Kolek didn’t play against the San Antonio Spurs as New York authored its five-game series victory and won its first NBA Finals in 53 years; however, he did score 14 points in a NBA Cup championship victory over the Spurs back on Dec. 16. The Knicks were full of come-from-behind victories this season, and they used another to dispatch the Spurs that night, perhaps a sign of what was to come months later.
“Y’all see this,” Kolek said while gripping the NBA Cup on IG Live during the parade, as shown by SNY. “This is my real trophy right here.”
Kolek, whom the Knicks traded for in 2024 after the Marquette product was drafted in the second round by the Portland Trail Blazers, relayed the message to NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson.
“This is my real trophy right here,” Kolek humorously reiterated, with Brunson now in frame. “Y’all got that one. I got this one.”
Part of what made this Knicks team special was that every player seemed to recognize and embrace their role. That includes Kolek, who, despite not playing in the NBA Finals, was very much a piece of the puzzle that ended the franchise’s infamous NBA championship drought.
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