Marquette Golden Eagles point guard Tyler Kolek was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 34th overall pick in the NBA Draft on Thursday afternoon. However, despite Portland making that selection, Kolek is being traded to the New York Knicks for future second-round picks, per source.
Tyler Kolek heading to the New York Knicks will be a great deal. He will be the perfect backup point guard for Jalen Brunson. Kolek has been winning with the Marquette Golden Eagles the last couple of seasons. This will be good for him because he will be heading to a winning environment right away.
The New York Knicks have made several moves already this offseason. They re-signed OG Anounby to a five-year $212.5 million deal and also acquired Mikal Bridges in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets. Bridges is reunited with other Villanova Wildcats teammates.
In 31 games played last season with Marquette, Kolek averaged 15.3 PPG and 7.7 APG. He also shot 38.8% from three-point land this season. Tyler Kolek will be good for this basketball team because he can run the second unit when Jalen Brunson sits on the bench and not run him into the ground.
New York Knicks Fans React To Acquiring Marquette Golden Eagles Tyler Kolek
There are a lot of Knicks fans who are excited to have Kolek on the team. He was one of the best players on the board in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft. This is what New York Knicks fans had to say about him on Twitter:
The Knicks love Tyler Kolek. There was a ton of noise they’d take him first round, and he’s a steal at this point. Bucket-getter who can reliably run the show too. Great depth behind Brunson and with so many wings they can maybe play both at once. pic.twitter.com/blUm1tYhFb
— Kevin O’Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) June 27, 2024
For those who need to know more about The New York Knicks 34th Draft pick.
Definitely looks like a he’ll fit into the Knicks culture naturally!
Tyler Kolek x The Standard🔶🔷 pic.twitter.com/HSIPPXPBJr
— NYKMuse (@NYKMuse) June 27, 2024
Watched more on Tyler Kolek:
His weak side passing is so elite
Kolek is great at recognizing patterns. He’s driving here and it’s not exactly obvious that the WS defender is helping the helper
But he knows he’s open once x5 impedes the drive pic.twitter.com/NKLruJBj9j
— 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕏 (@knicks_hive) June 28, 2024
Kolek is no stranger to playing games at Madison Square Garden. He played in the Big East Tournament with the Golden Eagles in that arena and won a title in the Big East in 2022-2023. Marquette also made it to the final in 2023-2024 but lost to the UCONN Huskies with Tyler Kolek sidelined due to an oblique injury.
He will be ready for the bright lights of New York. We will see how Kolek meshes into head coach Tom Thibodeau’s style with the Knicks. He played a similar system with head coach Shaka Smart at Marquette.
