-Porzingis! [ Cheers and applause ]
They love you. Come on. We love you, too.
I've never -- I've never seen you on a talk show before,
so this is exciting for me.
-This is my first time. -It is. Yeah.
You've never been on a talk show, yeah?
-Whoo! -Oh, fantastic.
[ Light laughter ] I'm happy you're here.
Thank you for being here. -Thanks for having me.
-Yeah, please. Tell -- Tell everyone
a little bit about you, if they don't know.
You -- You grew up in -- in Latvia, right?
-That's -- That's right.
Grew up in Latvia until I was 15.
Then I moved to Spain. I lived in Spain for five years,
got drafted when I was 19, and now I'm here.
-Wow. And -- And how old are you now?
[ Cheers and applause ]
-22. -22 years old.
And -- And how -- how did you start playing basketball?
Was it your family or...
-Yeah. My -- My whole family played basketball.
My older brother was a professional basketball player.
My middle brother also played.
And Mom -- my mom is 6'1." Dad is 6'4."
You know, I'm 7'3."
-Your mom played basketball, too?
-Yeah. -How old are you -- Sorry.
-How tall are you -- 7'3"? -7'3".
-Holy moly.
So, when did you start just kicking your brothers' butts?
[ Light laughter ] I mean, when --
what time did you keep growing and they stopped growing?
It's like, "Wait." -I'd say, like...
They made it pretty tough on me, but that was about...
-I know one of the brothers is back there,
so you're still tight with your family, yeah?
-Yes. Very, very tight. Very tight.
-You -- Do -- You live in the same apartment --
Is that true or no? -Not -- Not anymore.
My first -- my rookie season, yes.
-You did. Oh, yeah? -We did.
It was -- It was too much. We were all in the same place.
So now we're in the same building,
but we have different apartments.
[ Laughter ]
-Still in the same building, though.
That's so good, yeah.
-Well, we want to stay close, you know?
But at least we have our space now.
-Yeah. Do you -- Are you -- Are you psyched for the holidays,
'cause then you get together with the whole family?
-Yeah, my mom and dad is coming for Christmas,
so -- so it's gonna be fun.
We're gonna be all back together.
-They've got to be proud of you. Oh, my goodness.
I mean, that is... -I hope so.
-22 years old -- you're the --
you're the face of the -- of the New York Knicks.
-[ Chuckles ] -I mean, this is it.
I mean -- I mean, Melo left.
He's -- He's gone on, which is great for him.
But now it's all -- it's all you.
People come to the Garden, and they -- they want to see you.
-Oh, yeah. I mean, it's --
[ Laughter and applause ] -Sorry. Sorry to --
Sorry to remind you. -No, no, no.
-Sorry. I don't want to put the pressure on you.
-No, no, no. -Yeah.
But you're great to watch.
You're -- You're so -- it's -- it's amazing to watch you.
You're so much fun.
And Kevin Durant gave you a nickname,
"The Unicorn."
[ Light laughter ]
I love it. Do you love it?
-At first, I was a little confused.
[ Laughter ]
It's like, "What is it? Is it a horse with a ponytail?"
Like, what... [ Laughter ]
What does it mean?
But, then, you know, they kind of explained it to me.
And I'm -- What he tried to say is that I was a unique player
and, you know, so, it's a -- it's --
it was nice to hear him say, you know, good things about me.
-Do you -- Well, on your sneaker,
which is a -- by the way, unbelievably big.
[ Laughter ] I mean, good gosh!
Look at this sneaker.
This is the size of my whole shoulders.
[ Laughter ] This is -- Holy moly!
And I love -- I love that you have something on the soles
because this is probably what I would see when you --
if you dunked on me. [ Light laughter ]
That's a unicorn right there. [ Audience ohs ]
I just think that's pretty rad right there.
-[ Chuckles ] [ Cheers and applause ]
-I love going to the Garden. I love seeing the games.
I love watching you play. I don't --
I try not to be distracting to anybody
and -- and make a big deal, so if I'm there, I'd --
if I see you there, I don't want to go,
"Hey, Kristaps! What's up, man?"
So I -- But I do watch, and you're just amazing to watch...
-Appreciate it. -...in person,
so thank you for -- and all the New Yorkers
want to thank you for just being awesome and playing great.
When you go to the locker room during halftime,
the Knicks City Dancers come out.
You never get to see them. -No.
-But they're so good. They're so talented.
[ Laughter ] [ Clears throat ]
But I've -- I don't know what to really do,
'cause I don't want to -- I'm right --
sometimes, I'm right in the front,
and I just don't want to just, you know, just stare at them.
-Right. -You know?
'Cause I want to just -- I just want to be normal,
but... [ Laughter ]
Well, I have a picture of me and my friend at the Knicks game
that I just thought was pretty --
it kind of encompasses what I'm doing
while they're dancing, and they're amazing.
But this is a photo of me and Lorne at the Knick game.
[ Laughter ]
[ Laughter and applause ]
[ Laughter and applause continue ]
Now, I've never -- I've never seen that dance move,
and I never will, you know? [ Laughter ]
And -- But I will say that
that's what you're missing out on, man.
It's the one time you got to come out for the halftime show.
Yeah, and good luck with the rest of the season.
We love you. -Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ] Please come back, all right?
-I will. I will. -Win that championship, buddy.
Kristaps Porzingis! [ Cheers and applause ]