Knicks Guard Joins Shortlist of Players to Play in NBA, G League in Same Day

The G League has turned into a great tool for NBA teams. They are able to get some of their young players valuable playing time against pro-level players. It has allowed players to develop at a much better rate than just having them sit on the bench and not getting live game reps.

Most G League teams are located close to their NBA counterparts so that players can quickly get to the NBA squads in case the teams need some extra guys to play because of injuries. Most of the time, the player is called in from the G League to play in a game the next day or in the next couple of days.

On Wednesday, something extremely rare happened with a G League player. Tyler Kolek of the New York Knicks actually played in both an NBA and a G League game on the same day. It was a wild sequence of events for someone who actually scored in both games.

Kolek played a game for the Westchester Knicks in a game that tipped off at 1 p.m. against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. In that game, he had 36 points and 11 assists in 40 minutes played. The Knicks game tipped off at 7 p.m. the same day, and he scored two points and four assists against the Jazz.

The reason why Kolek played for the NBA squad is because the Knicks had injury problems in the backcourt that forced both Jalen Brunson and Miles McBride to miss the game. They needed someone who could play emergency minutes, and that’s exactly what Kolek did.

This is something that is done very rarely. The last time it happened was back in 2021 when Malachi Flynn played a game in the G League Bubble and then flew to Milwaukee to play for the Raptors. It’s something that is only done in extreme circumstances of injury.

Kolek got some very valuable experience by playing in both games. He also showed the Knicks that he is someone who can be counted on in pressure situations. He obviously played very well for the Westchester Knicks and held his own for New York. Kolek may have earned himself a roster spot later this year.

So far this year in the G League, Kolek is averaging 19 points and 7.8 assists per game for Westchester.

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