New York Knicks wing Josh Hart had an interesting idea that he was happy to see come alive to put his mind at ease before the new season began.

Like so many other people, Hart spends a lot of time on his phone. But he wanted to unplug so he could have the right headspace while dealing with his lingering hand injury and as prepared to play for his new head coach Mike Brown as the Knicks look to win the Eastern Conference.

Hart, who is one of the most chronically online players in the NBA and is known as a great athlete to follow on social media, decided to do something different.

The idea was to create a true “social off socials” moment, creating new memories. With the help of Heinken, he turned his longtime “Cold Water” group chat into a one-night-only experience. It was part of a bigger Heineken campaign for fans to turn their own group chats into a similar pop-up bar experience to further encourage real-life meetups.

“It was a bar for our group chat,” Hart told For The Win in a recent interview. “No one more, no one less. It’s a bar for us to hang out in real life, not just over the phone.”

The Cold Water Bar was filled with clever nods and hidden Easter Eggs recognizable only to his loved ones in their text thread. There were inside jokes, photos, an ice sculpture (!) and live music.

“I recently converted to become a country music listener, so they had a country music band from Brooklyn and they made up a couple songs about me and people in the group chat,” Hart said. “They did a great job of being able to bring our group chat to life. It was just for us to connect back in real life. It was dope.”

The guest list was limited to people who knew him the best out of anyone in the world.

“One of my best friends from high school, Sebastian, is in it,” Hart said. “Matt Hellman, who is like my brother and on my podcast with us. My wife. Matt’s wife. It’s people I’ve known for a really long time.”

Hart believes he is the comedian of the group chat. He described himself as the “funny guy” in the group. He added that his wife plays the role of “the person that’s always right and takes it a little too far.”

The night was built around a simple truth: even though so many people talk on the phone, it’s rare to actually get together in person.

“My friends and I all have a group chat and it’s cool and it’s fun and we don’t really get to hang out in real life. This campaign was a way to get everyone hanging out, reminiscing on funny memories while making new memories.”

Of course, this isn’t the only active group chat where Hart likes to participate.

Another digital connection is with his former Villanova Men’s Basketball teammates through their fantasy football league.

“A lot of it is fantasy football banter and guys trying to make trades,” he said. “But generally, for the most part, it’s just always about funny memories that we had at Villanova and funny situations we did as players and stuff that Coach Wright said. It’s still an active group chat and it’s a hilarious one. Everyone needs some group chats.”

The Knicks have a group chat, too, and it helps them keep a strong bond in the locker room.

“When you have good, high-character guys you can build relationships,” he said. “Our team group chat is pretty active and that bleeds onto the court. When you have guys that are fully connected on and off the court, that helps breed success.”

At the end of the day, it was important for Hart to have The Cold Water Bar meet up in New York.

“New Yorkers are basketball junkies, man,” he said. “They love the game. They love the Knicks. They wear their hearts on their sleeves. They show their passion. That’s something that I try to resemble with my play — being extremely competitive, extremely passionate.”

When it was over, Hart just smiled. The Cold Water Bar did what a group chat could never actually replicate from the real world. They put everyone in the same place, laughing again over drinks.

“Doing this in New York was cool,” Hart said. “You could really reconnect without any distractions. It was super dope.”

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Inside Josh Hart’s real-life pop-up bar created for his group chat

Reporting by Bryan Kalbrosky, For The Win / For The Win

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