New York Knicks point guard Tyler Kolek is casting doubt on Taylor Swift’s devotion to the team five months after she attended the 2026 NBA Finals.
“At the Knicks games, I would say it’s very performative,” Kolek, 25, said during an NBA 2K TikTok livestream on Thursday, November 5, when asked about the “fakest celebrity fan” of the basketball team.
“Because they just want to be seen at the game. They’re not necessarily fans,” he continued before singling out the pop star.
“Maybe Taylor Swift,” he noted. “I don’t know if I’ve seen her at any other games.”
Though Kolek’s teammate Deuce McBride agreed with the assessment, he also pointed out that “Swifties are not going to like that answer.”
“I’m going to get some hate from the Swifties,” Kolek added. “I guess she has a lot going on, so she can’t come all the time. But it’s a little performative.”
McBride, 26, then praised the Knicks’ biggest celebrity fans, including Ben Stiller and Tracy Morgan.
“Everybody else is usually solid,” he said.
Swift, 36, attended Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden in New York City in June — the same venue where she tied the knot with husband Travis Kelce weeks later. The “Patient Zero” singer, who owns multiple properties in NYC, sported a punny “Stevie Knicks” T-shirt for the game, while close pals Alana and Este Haim joined her in “Knickelback” and “Knickole Kidman” tees, respectively.
Swift had previously attended one of the Knicks’ games in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers with Kelce, 37, in May.
The day after the Knicks vs. Spurs game, Swift attended the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where she joked about losing her voice from cheering.
“I got home and was like, ‘You gotta stop screaming, you’re screaming too much, you’re screaming instead of talking, you’re too excited,’” she recalled in her speech, adding that she screamed for “100 percent” of the historic game.
“Then I got to witness the amazing performances I saw tonight, and I just kept screaming and I never stopped screaming and this is what you get,” Swift quipped, referring to Sombr, Brandi Carlile, Billy Corgan, SistaStrings and Johnny Rzeznik. “I make no apologies for that — I’ve had a blast.”
Swift’s attendance at the Knicks game stirred up controversy in the sports world, as others questioned her motives for being at MSG that evening. Knicks radio analyst Monica McNutt threw shade at the Grammy winner by telling her to “get out of here,” which quickly sparked backlash. Team captain Jalen Brunson later asked Swifties to cut McNutt “some slack.”
Knicks point guard Jose Alvarado, on the other hand, wants to see more of Swift on the sidelines.
“That’s a surreal superstar, and I was happy she was cheering us on,” he exclusively told Us in June. “And [she] seemed like she was having a good time, and we won, so even better. She gotta come more often.”
