Even sports stars can get caught up in a case 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 Department 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 celebration.
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.
“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!!! Put some respect on Tyler Kolek’s name 😩,” one X user wrote in response to the clip.
For his part, Kolek appeared to take the incident in stride. Referencing the incident via X, he joked, “I swear I’m on the team bro 😂😂😂.”
The championship parade marked a major celebration for the Knicks, who defeated the Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 on Saturday, June 13 to win their first championship since 1973.
Following the historic win, Knicks owner James Dolan confirmed that his team received an invitation from the White House, where they are expected to meet President Donald Trump.
“We just did receive an invitation from the White House, which we accepted,” Dolan confirmed during a WFAN Sports Radio interview on Wednesday, June 17.
He added, “We still have to figure out the details.”
In a previous interview, Dolan shared that he requested for his team members to go to great lengths to get “an edge” in the sporting competition, asking them to abstain from sex.
“I had this idea that maybe you should 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 that they can have an edge. Get the edge.”
He continued, “Go home, talk to your wives and tell them — don’t tell them you’re not gonna have sex, don’t tell them it was my idea — but let them [to] know what this is gonna be like, what your commitment is gonna be like, and how they’re gonna have to sacrifice too.”
