Since becoming the first black captain of South Africa to lift the Rugby World Cup trophy in November, Siya Kolisi has risen to a new level of fame.
And, as a result, he’s been on a sports voyage.
He was invited to watch his favorite soccer team – reigning European champions Liverpool – play by its manager Jurgen Klopp. He even switched shirts with midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum.
The Reds went on to draw with Napoli in the UEFA Champions League with Kolisi in the Anfield stands.
But his most recent trip wasn’t accompanied by the success he might have been hoping to see.
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Kolisi traveled to New York to watch a cross-city NBA derby, as the Brooklyn Nets faced the New York Knicks at the Barclays Center.
And prior to the game, he exchanged shirts with the Nets’ shooting-guard Spencer Dinwiddie.
But unfortunately for Dinwiddie and his teammates, none of Kolisi’s magic touch passed between the pair, as the Nets had a historically bad shooting performance against the Knicks.
In the 94-82 loss, Brooklyn’s eight two-point field goals were the fewest by a team in any game since 1950, when the Fort Wayne Pistons and Minneapolis Lakers each made four, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau.
That game became famous for its final score of 19-18.
Not only that, but in the Nets’ 82 points, they shot just 26.9% from the field (21-for-78) – the worst shooting percentage by any team since January 2012.
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After the performance, Dinwiddie jokingly blamed the Nets’ rustiness on the festive period.
“We were really, really bad,” Dinwiddie told reporters. “Like, laughably bad. We shot really bad. Probably historically bad.
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“Let’s go with too much eggnog. I don’t know what else to tell you.”
The Nets are currently playing without star free agent acquisitions Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, who are both out with injuries.
