New York Knicks guard Tyler Kolek (13) surveys the Orlando Magic’s defence during the NBA Cup semi-final on Saturday.Ronda Churchill/The Associated Press
The New York Knicks might get a trophy. Tyler Kolek’s dad might get a car.
The NBA Cup final will have San Antonio against the Knicks on Tuesday night in Las Vegas. The game won’t count in the standings, and the stats won’t be added to any official totals. But there is a trophy, bragging rights and money at stake.
By making it to the final, the Knicks and Spurs already have secured US$212,373 per player from the NBA Cup prize money pool. The losing team on Tuesday gets nothing extra. Players on the winning team get an additional US$308,560 – pushing their Cup winnings to US$530,933 each. Two-way players get half of what players on standard contracts get.
“It means a lot to some,” Kolek said. “Maybe not as much to others, obviously.”
He’s in the “some” group.
Kolek, a backup guard for the Knicks, is making US$2.2-million this season. In the real world, that’s a lot of money. In the NBA world, not so much. Take a look at some other Knicks players’ salaries: Karl-Anthony Towns is making US$53.1-million this season, OG Anunoby is making US$39.6-million, Jalen Brunson is making US$34.9-million, Mikal Bridges is making just under US$25-million and Josh Hart around US$19.5-million.
Those guys – and plenty of the Spurs players, too – are used to seeing cheques exceeding US$500,000. Kolek surely isn’t. But he’s earned his shot to win big in Vegas, by being a big reason why the Knicks got to the final.
New York outscored Orlando by 18 points in Kolek’s 16 minutes in Saturday’s semi-finals. When Kolek wasn’t on the floor, the Magic outscored the Knicks by six. He finished with four points and four assists; the stats might not seem impressive, but his energy was a huge plus for New York.
“Tyler did a fantastic job today, our young fella, of impacting winning,” Towns said after the game. “And he did that on a big stage. … One of his finest games as an NBA player was tonight, and it may not show up on the stats sheet, but everybody in our locker room knows how important he was to us.”
Kolek drives to the basket past Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (right) during Saturday’s NBA Cup semi-final on Saturday in Las Vegas.Kirby Lee/Reuters
Kolek took his NBA Cup quarter-final bonus from last season, a little over US$50,000, and bought his mother a car. This year, he has said it could be his father’s turn for a new vehicle. The question is, will the bigger bonus this year lead to a better car for his dad?
Knicks coach Mike Brown – who raves about Kolek’s competitive juices and has rewarded him with a bigger role in recent weeks – can’t wait to find out.
“I just want to know if his dad’s going to get a better car than his mom or vice versa, because we’ll find out soon which parent he likes more,” Brown said, laughing. “Better be his mom. … Hey, I’m not causing trouble. I’ve just got two eyes open. Wait to see what he’s going to do. Just take care of your mom. Just remember that. Take care of your mom.”
It’s a nice problem to have, for sure.
“That’s a big amount of money for a guy like myself,” Kolek said. “It’s not only about the money. We want to win this to hold up the trophy and for the fans.”