New York Knicks fans have seen some of the best, most entertaining players in NBA history. They’ve all played at “The World’s Most Famous Arena” and thrilled Madison Square Garden crowds. But who are the best and greatest Knicks players in history? We’ll try to figure that out here with the all-time top-10 Knicks player rankings.
These all-time top-10 Knicks player rankings are based on what the players did in a Knicks uniform and how they contributed to the franchise. So, while Jason Kidd is a top-75 player in NBA history, his final season with the Knicks doesn’t put him on this list.
With apologies to some of the near-misses for this list, like John Starks, Mark Jackson, and Latrell Sprewell, here are the 10 greatest Knicks players in team history, ranked.
10. Charles Oakley
Charles Oakley is one of the unsung heroes on this list and will help differentiate between the best Knicks players in history and the greatest Knicks players in history. Many of the payers below fit into both categories, with the “best” player scoring points, dishing assists, and winning individual awards.
However, to make it on this list of greatest Knicks players, it doesn’t have to be all flash. Exhibit one: Charles Oakley.
Oakley was an All-Star in New York and made two All-Defensive teams. He also averaged 10.4 points and 10.0 rebounds per game while playing in the Big Apple for a decade. But Oakley’s value can’t be found in a box score or even in a postseason awards team. Oak’s value was in the blood, sweat, and tears he and tough-as-nail teammates like Anthony Mason left on the court for the 19990s Knicks.
And make no mistake, most of that blood was his opponents’.
9. Allan Houston
Allan Houston didn’t make it to Broadway until the fourth year of his career. But once he made it there, he made the most of his starring role.
Houston played in NYC from 1996-2005. That was a tough era for the Knicks and, if we’re being honest, the NBA in general. That said, Houston was a sharpshooting beacon in some gray days on the banks of the Hudson River.
The 1993 No. 11 overall pick averaged 18.5 points and shot 39.9% from 3-point range for the Knicks. In today’s game, Houston would have been a superstar. As it were in the grind-it-out late 90s and early 2000s, he was still pretty darn good.
8. Bill Bradley
If fans today know Bill Bradley at all, it may be as a former U.S. Senator. However, before that, the 6-foot-5 Princeton grad was a key cog on the two Knicks championship teams of the early 1970s.
Bradley wasn’t just a role player for Red Holzman, though. He was an excellent player. During his 10 years as one of the Knicks' best players of the era, the future politician was an Iron Man, averaging over 30 minutes per game and playing at least 78 games seven times. He also averaged 12.4 points, 3.4 assists, and 3.2 rebounds.
The championships help push Bradley up these Knicks player rankings, and who knows where he would be if he didn’t take his first two seasons off to pursue a Rhoades Scholarship in Italy.
7. Bernard King
Before Carmelo Anthony, there was Bernard King. Was he the best all-around Knicks player? No. Was his defense suspect and time? Sure. But man, not many NBA players could put the ball in the basket better than Bernard.
King only played four seasons in Madison Square Garden, but they were memorable ones.
Remembered as much as a Washington Bullet as a Knickerbocker, King is on this greatest Kicks players list because he made two of his four All-Star squads and won his scoring title in 1984-85, averaging 32.9 points per game.
Overall, King averaged more points per game with New York (26.5) than any other team in his career. He also put up 2.8 assists and 5.2 boards. His teams under Hubie Brown also made the playoffs twice and won two playoff series.
6. Carmelo Anthony
It’s hard not to see the similarities between Carmelo Anthony and Bernard King, but when you look at both their time with the Knicks, Anthony was simply a better all-around player for longer.
From a team success point-of-view, Anthony’s Knicks made the playoffs three times but only won one playoff series. During his seven seasons in NYC, Anthony averaged 24.7 points, 3.2 assists, and 7.0 rebounds, while shooting 36.9% from 3-point range.
Like King, Anthony also won one scoring title with the Knicks (2012-23, 28.7 points per game). Melo was also an All-Star all seven seasons and two All-NBA teams.
The biggest “What if?” of Anthony’s career relates to what would have happened if he hadn’t forced the franchise to give up a ton of talent to get him from the Denver Nuggets.
If Carmelo just waited half a season and signed as a free agent, he could have played with Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, and Timofey Mozgov and his legacy could have been much different.
5. Dave DeBusschere
The top-5 greatest Knicks players in history are pretty unassailable. Maybe you can quibble with the order a bit, but overall, none of the five best Knicks players above belong on this side of the list. Plus, all five of these New York legends are on the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
DeBusschere is one of four players on this list — along with Bill Bradley and two players below — who won two championships with New York in 1970 and 1973.
The Detroit native was a three-time All-Star by the time he made it to Manhattan from his hometown NBA team. He ultimately split his career evenly between the two teams, though, playing 440 games for the Pistons and 435 for the Knicks.
In New York, DeBusschere averaged 16.0 points, 3.1 assists, and 10.7 rebounds. He made five All-Star teams, and all five of his NBA All-Defensive Team nods came with the Knicks as well.
4. Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe
Earl Monroe is one of the best guards in NBA history and was on the 1973 Knicks championship team, although not the 1970 one. And while you can argue where he stacks up against his teammates Willis Reed and Walt Frazier, the fact that he has the one title and not two like those guys puts him fourth on this greatest Knicks player rankings.
“The Pearl” spent nine of his 14 NBA seasons at 4 Pennsylvania Plaza. He made two All-Star teams there while averaging 19.9 points, 1.2 steals, and 4.3 assists per game. More importantly, he played a classic I-95 (from Philadelphia) playground style that defined an era in both Knicks basketball and NYC culture.
Along with Frazier, Monroe helped form the Roll-Royce backcourt that inspired a generation of silky smooth, flashy point guards. As much as they all tried, though, none of them could hold a candle to the Knicks’ “Black Jesus.”
3. Willis Reed
Madison Square Garden has seen Ali vs. Frazier, the first WrestleMania, and the Rangers winning the Stanley Cup. However, it’s hard to imagine that MSG was ever more electric than when the original “Captain” (sorry Derek Jeter) walked out on the court with a severely injured leg for Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals.
That was the Knicks center’s most iconic moment, but it was far from his only.
Reed played all 10 of his NBA season for New York and won the 1964-65 Rookie of the Year Award, 1969-70 MVP Award, and the Finals MVP Award in both he played in. He also made seven All-Star Games, five All-NBA teams, and an All-Defensive team.
The 6-foot-10 icon is simply one of the best Knicks players of all time, and if you have him at No. 1 or 2 on your list, that’s hard to argue.
2. Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier
Ditto for Clyde Frazier.
Frazier was the quintessential point guard in a city known for producing point guards. He may have grown up in Atlanta, but no one played NYC PG like “Clyde.”
The numbers on his decade in New York speak for themselves. Frazier averaged 19.3 points, 6.3 assists, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.0 steals. Those numbers got him on seven All-Star squads and six All-NBA teams, but it was his defense that made him a Knicks legend.
Frazier made seven All-Defensive teams and hounded opposing guards in a way that made Knicks fans proud. And as intense as he was on the court, he was even cooler off it. His flamboyant style made him a fashion icon in the Swinging 70s in Manhattan, and that might be the coolest thing of all.
1. Patrick Ewing
While so many players are on this Knicks player rankings list because they won titles, we can’t punish Patrick Ewing because he played at the same time as Michael Jeffrey Jordan (and Hakeem Olajuwon).
When you look at the statistical leaders in Knicks history, pretty much the only name you see is Ewing’s. He averaged 22.8 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.4 blocks, and 1.4 steals per game during his time in NYC.
Those numbers made him the franchise career leader in [deep breath] games, minutes played,
field goals, field goal attempts, 2-pt field goals, 2-pt field goal attempts, field goals missed, free throws, free throw attempts, defensive rebounds, total rebounds, steals, blocks, turnovers, personal fouls, blocks per game, win shares, defensive win shares, and of course, points.
The No. 1 pick of the 1985 NBA Draft may have come to New York via frozen envelope, but he left as the greatest player in Knicks history.
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