If New York Knicks rookies Jerian Grant and Kristaps Porzingis weren’t NBA players, they would be in a bubblegum-pop boy band. Together.
That much is clear after watching them serenade teammate Robin Lopez with the “Happy Birthday” song, video evidence of which was provided by Kevin Seraphin:
First off, Seraphin is becoming quite the behind-the-scenes videographer. He posted clips of Porzingis getting jacked up over video games just last weekend, and now we have this.
Lopez’s birthday, mind you, was one week ago, on April 1. This birthday ballad, it seems, was filmed then, presumably after the Knicks pummeled Brook Lopez, RoLo’s twin brother, and his Brooklyn Nets.
Once again, Porzingis gets really into it, claiming he sang his “heart out.” True to his word, he most definitely tried to hit some unreachably high soprano notes. His voiced started to crack like a pre-pubescent middle-schooler, but hey, he gets brownie points for trying. And he gets bonus brownie points for referring to Robin Lopez as “RoLo.” Yours truly always wondered if that nickname extended from the blogosphere into the locker room. It’s good to see that it does.
Grant, for his part, looked really serious as he was singing. He wasn’t as pumped as Porzingis afterward, and the cake he handed RoLo looked more like a weeks-old lasagna. But the kid can sing.
As for Porzingis, the joy and profound purpose with which he approaches everything, including menial birthday jams, is beyond awesome. If his NBA or boy-band career doesn’t pan out for some reason, he would make a great life coach.