The New York Knicks, also known as the ‘Nova Knicks considering how four of their starters played together in college at Villanova, are a pretty tight group. Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart literally host their own podcast together, and now that Mikal Bridges is in the fold after New York pulled off a blockbuster trade with the Brooklyn Nets, it's safe to say that the team's chemistry is at an all-time high.
Of course, there are other guys on the team who didn't play at Villanova and need to be incorporated into the squad too, but that isn't an issue for these guys. Just ask rookie guard Tyler Kolek, who was recently selected by the Knicks, only to have the first big storyline surrounding his time with the team be about whether or not he could read. Unsurprisingly, it didn't take Hart and Brunson long to get to the bottom of this rumor.
Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson already ribbing their new teammate
During his time in college at Marquette, a rumor originated from a Providence fan account on social media that Kolek was illiterate. Fans quickly began picking up on this and took it as the truth, despite the fact that there was literally nothing proving it to be true. And it didn't take long for Hart and Brunson to pick up on it either it seems.
Kolek has tried on several occasions to prove it to not be true, going as far to post his 3.934 GPA for the first semester of the school year in 2023. Despite that, people still bought the rumor that he couldn't read, and sure enough, it spread like wildfire on social media. So when the Knicks traded for Kolek from the Portland Trail Blazers after he was selected with the 34th overall pick of the 2024 NBA Draft, you figured this would somehow become a topic of discussion among fans.
In a twist, though, it became a topic of discussion among Kolek's own teammates. On their shared ‘Roommates Show' podcast, Hart brought up Kolek's alleged illiteracy, asking Brunson whether or not it was true. Brunson didn't believe it to be true for a second, but he wanted to see what Hart's thoughts on the subject were, so he let him do some digging on the matter. He quickly found out that the rumor was not true, putting an end to one of the most confusing sagas we have seen in basketball as of late.
That's just the sort of banter Kolek is going to have to get used to now that he's on the Knicks, and he's been a good sport about the whole situation, which has made him even more popular with fans. He already seems to be bonding with Hart and Brunson too, and it will be interesting to see if that helps him put together a successful rookie campaign in New York.
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