Fifteen years ago, Timothée Chalamet was just a young New York Knicks fan known as “Tim.”
A new article from The New York Times details how the 29-year-old actor has been a longtime fan of the NBA team, going at least as far back as 2010. At the time, he was 14 years old and still years away from his breakout role on “Homeland,” while the Knicks were struggling just to make the playoffs.
Now Chalamet is a courtside celebrity, cheering on the team with his girlfriend Kylie Jenner and fellow famous Knicks fans like Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, Tracy Morgan, Bad Bunny and Lenny Kravitz. And the Knicks are not only in the playoffs, the Jalen Brunson-led squad is thriving after beating the defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics to face the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Times included a fun flashback to when “Tim Chalamet” won a Twitter contest by then-Knicks rookies Landry Fields and former Syracuse basketball star Andy Rautins. Fields posted a photo of himself with Rautins in November 2010, challenging fans to find them and answer trivia questions to win tickets.
“Hahaha the contest is over,” Fields tweeted two hours later with a photo of a fresh-faced kid in a puffy coat. “Tim Chalamet is the winner. Found us at grand central. Congrats Tim! See you Friday at the game.”
Fields’ X account is now private, but the photo of a teenaged Chalamet with Fields and Rautins is still visible online along with screenshots of the tweet. It resurfaces often when the Academy Award-nominated actor is spotted at Knicks games.
Fields played for the Knicks and Toronto Raptors for five seasons and went on to become the Atlanta Hawks’ GM. He was fired as general manager last month.
Rautins, the son of former Syracuse baskeball great Leo Rautins, played for Jamesville-DeWitt High School and Syracuse University before a pro career that was mostly overseas, including with the Canadian National Team. Andy Rautins famously made six 3-pointers in SU’s six-overtime win over UConn in the 2009 Big East Tournament.
Villanova v Syracuse
Syracuse basketball star Andy Rautins celebrates during a game against the Villanova Wildcats at the Carrier Dome on February 27, 2010 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Marc Squire/Getty Images)Getty Images
The Knicks later added another former Syracuse basketball star, Carmelo Anthony, in 2011. New York is now four wins away from reaching its first NBA Finals since 1999, when Timmy was just 3 years old.
Chalamet, who‘s already had an all-star career in Hollywood, is best known for roles in movies like “Dune,” “Wonka,” “Call Me By Your Name,” “Lady Bird,” “Little Women” and “Don’t Look Up.” He recently received his second Oscar nomination for playing Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.”