Canadian streetball star Matt Kiatipis draws large crowd again – this time in Lorong Lew Lian

SINGAPORE – Tucked amid HDB blocks and private housing in Upper Serangoon, the Lorong Lew Lian basketball court is a quintessential neighbourhood facility, where residents shoot hoops and youths gather after school for a game or two.

But on Oct 7, the place was filled like never before, with a crowd of at least 400 drawn by Canadian basketball influencer Matt Kiatipis, better known as MK, who brought his one-on-one challenge to the heart of the neighbourhood.

When The Straits Times arrived at 5.30pm, the area was already filled with at least 150 people, mostly youths. Many were in their school PE shirts and uniforms, looking to secure the best seats while others took their places at the corridors of an adjacent HDB block overlooking the court.

The crowd continued to swell and the enthusiastic fans started chanting of “MK, MK, MK!” at around 6.40pm when Kiatipis – clad in a white San Antonio Spurs basketball kit bearing the name of French superstar Victor Wembanyama – arrived in a black van.

The online celebrity proceeded to pick several players from the crowd for the one-on-one challenge, showcasing his brash persona, relentless trash talk, taunts and physical play, much to the delight of the spectators.

The event ended 1½ hours later, with the police arriving by about 7.30pm to keep the situation under control.

A day earlier, Kiatipis had wanted to stage his first one-on-one challenge at Chinatown Complex rooftop court but the sheer size of the crowd which encroached into the court forced him to call off the event. The police were also there.

The popularity of Kiatipis caught many Lorong Lew Lian residents unaware, with many peering out of their windows while some came courtside to ask the teenagers who the Canadian was, and what the event was about.

Kiatipis – who also donned a pink Singapore national football team goalkeeper jersey during the games – later said in an Instagram post: “This is getting so crazy. I can’t believe it. Singapore…you filled up the entire court. You filled up the bleachers, people were watching from the (balconies) and we only announced the 1v1 six hours before.

“I loved playing in front of y’all so much. Now I’m gonna do two more 1v1 events.” 

On Oct 7, just past 1pm, Kiatipis had taken to his Instagram account – where he has 3.5 million followers – to reveal a 7pm meet-up time and the location.

Nihal Hamid 20, a student at the PSB academy was one of the lucky few who took on Kiatipis in the challenge, with at least 50 people crowded around them playing the roles of “hype men”. 

Nihal said: “It was a very good experience. I have been watching his content for awhile now so when he was coming here, I knew I had to show up. It was nice to see the local basketball community showing up the way they did.

“I managed to get to the front and just kept saying ‘play me, play me’ and I managed to do it. There was a lot of trash talk involved… I was doing it back. It’s all for the love of the game.

“I have played in front of crowds but not something this massive. But I expected this to happen, it is no surprise given his following.” 

Another student, Austyn Campbell, 16, an American from Stamford American International School, called it an unforgettable evening, after he too got to compete against Kiatipis. 

Austyn said: “There were so many people and I did not expect that. Getting to share that experience with MK today was so cool and something very memorable for me. I had actually turned up in Chinatown yesterday and there were a lot of people but not this many.”

Kiatipis, who is from Newmarket, Ontario, has built a mass following across Instagram and TikTok with videos of his taking on challengers in one-on-one games at outdoor courts around the world.

He played college basketball at Canada’s Simon Fraser University before transferring to a school in the United States, where the Covid-19 pandemic cut short his season.

He then had a professional stint in Costa Rica before turning to content creation.

Kiatipis told ST on Oct 6 that it is his mission to establish one-on-one basketball as a sport in its own right, separate from the traditional five-a-side and 3x3 formats.

“I didn’t know what to expect. So to be here now, coming from Covid, that journey all in between is just a dream come true,” said Kiatipis on his rise.

“I’m bringing the community together, playing a new sport (which is) one-on-one. Before, it was like five-on-five in the street, and then I condensed it down to one-on-one, where more people could play.

“We started from the streets up into the craziest things you could possibly think of. We could be on the Chinatown rooftop in Singapore, and we’ll be in a stadium the next day, and then we’ll be in the favelas.

“There’s just so much diversity that we bring into this one sport, and we are the leaders of one-on-one basketball. In the future, I’ll want to expand one-on-one to different sports, absolutely, because we are collabing through basketball with so many different sports.”

Singapore is the second stop of his South-east Asia tour.

He was in Jakarta from Oct 1 to 3, when he held a coaching clinic and took on local players at the King of Ballers streetball event.