Wolfgang Novogratz — the basketball-playing 16-year-old son of HGTV stars Robert and Cortney Novogratz — shouldn’t have shown up former NBA player Smush Parker last week in a pick-up game at Basketball City at Pier 36.
Parker, 32, punched Wolfie in the jaw, and the teen — a star at Brooklyn’s Poly Prep, where Chicago Bull Joakim Noah played — was taken to the hospital.
Wolfie, who is 6-foot-2, 185 pounds and being heavily recruited already by colleges, was guarding Parker, who is 2 inches taller and lot heavier.
“Wolfie scored back-to-back baskets on Smush,” said my source. “At the other end, Smush went up for a shot. There was a hard foul, and they both went down. Smush got up and punched Wolfie in the face.”
Wolfgang is the eldest of seven children who were featured on Bravo’s “9 by Design” and he has appeared in “Home by Novogratz,” the HGTV show where his parents design a new house or apartment on each episode.
Brooklyn-born Parker, who had two good seasons with the Lakers under Phil Jackson, was cut by the Miami Heat in 2008 after getting into a fight with a parking attendant.
“Wolfie did not pass out and tried to keep playing, but he had to sit down. For the sake of safety, he went to the hospital to be checked out, and he was fine,” said my source. “He declined to press charges.”
Parker could not be reached for comment.