“I Swear I’m on the Team, Bro”: Cops Mistake Knicks Player Tyler Kolek for a Fan During Championship Parade

In a moment that perfectly captured both the chaos of Thursday’s historic celebration and the reality of life as a reserve player in the NBA, New York Knicks guard Tyler Kolek was stopped, grabbed, and nearly tackled by NYPD officers during the team’s ticker-tape parade — after police mistook him for an overzealous fan who had crossed the barricades.

The video went viral within minutes. Kolek, a 25-year-old backup point guard, had stepped off the float to run along the barricades and high-five the sea of fans lining Broadway through the Canyon of Heroes. It was a spontaneous, joyful moment — exactly the kind of thing you do when your team has just won an NBA championship for the first time in 53 years and millions of New Yorkers are screaming your name. Or at least, screaming someone’s name.

That was the problem. Not everyone knew it was his.