(From left) Larry Johnson, John Starks, Patrick Ewing and Bernard King are among the Knicks legends at 2026 playoff home games.
Some celebrities sit court side at Madison Square Garden … and then there are those who are celebrated who sit court side. In an arena that loves to acknowledge the famous, there’s a fine line between the two, which basketball folks will confirm on any given game night, and especially now.
The loudest cheers aren’t for Ben Stiller and Tracy Morgan and whatever A-list actor or singer of the moment who gets comped. No, the roar is for Patrick Ewing. And Larry Johnson. And John Starks, Latrell Sprewell and Bernard King.
As it should, for these and other former Knicks all had their glory in this building and added a layer of equity to the team’s history. None won a championship, however, which makes their regular appearances at these playoff games both curious and appropriate.
It has become an unscheduled hoop reunion when they arrive at the Garden and sit next to each other just behind one of the baskets. They were once applauded during their playing days many years ago; now they’re the ones clapping and imploring the current Knicks to, in the pleas of Ewing, “do whatever it takes.”
Are they living vicariously through Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart? Perhaps, in a sense. There’s a permanent void these alums cannot fill, as in that elusive championship they wanted so badly for the city. It’s a regret that, with the Knicks now in the NBA Finals, might be erased in a few weeks if all goes well.
“Us being here every night and seeing the things that are going on here makes us feel like we are part of it, part of the team,” Ewing said, “even though we’re old and beat up and our knees hurt and backs hurt.”
No, there will be no coming out of retirement for the geriatric Knicks, so the next best thing is to come to the games and regurgitate that same competitive emotion … from the seats.
‘Once a Knick, always a Knick’
When Brunson ripped through the fourth quarter of a thrilling Game 1 overtime victory, Ewing and Johnson and Marcus Camby gyrated in their chairs after big shots, behaving much like the fans seated behind them 50 rows up. The energy in the building was therefore a bonded experience by all.
After a Brunson layup, Stephon Marbury leaped from his chair and actually stepped briefly and mistakenly onto the court. Security did not toss him from the building, mainly because he was an ex-Knick. Anyway, Marbury later posted an apology on social media and explained:
“I got swept up in the current like a plastic bag,” Marbury said. “My energy flew out of the roof, I lost my mind and my feet carried me somewhere they didn’t belong. Now, how about we run that back? Just kidding. Unless Jalen hits another one. Then all bets are off.”
While this city demands winners from all walks of life, the ex-Knicks are still beloved because, hell, at least they tried. At least they came close twice. And a good amount of fans of a certain age at the Garden grew up on those Ewing teams, lived and died with them. So the attachment remains.
The last Knicks championship was in 1973. Those were your grandfather’s Knicks. Few, if any, passionate Knicks fans in 2026 can recall Willis Reed limping from the tunnel in 1970 vs. the Los Angeles Lakers or a dapper Walt Frazier looking like “Clyde” in both Finals runs. Yet there are deep memories of the last two Knicks trips to the NBA Finals, in 1993-94 and 1998-99, bringing a mix of joy and angst.
Basically, those teams in the ‘90s beat everyone except Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Tim Duncan when it counted. No shame in that. But still.
“It’s hard to win a championship,” said Johnson.
He should know. Jordan prevented the Knicks from reaching the NBA Finals, and when he briefly detoured to baseball and then briefly retired, the Knicks had a pair of openings.
On June 5, 1994, New York beat Indiana in Game 7 to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in 21 years.
Ewing and Olajuwon engaged in a tough championship series that went the distance. However, Starks shot 2-for-18 in Game 7 and, in Game 6, his championship-winning shot attempt was blocked by Olajuwon. The 1994 title went to the Houston Rockets.
The lockout-shortened 1998-99 season saw the Knicks, the No. 8 seed in the East, play inspired all playoffs and were helped by Allan Houston’s last-second shot to eliminate the No. 1-seeded Miami Heat in the first round. Ewing tore his Achilles tendon in the Eastern Conference Finals and missed the NBA Finals. The Knicks were denied by Duncan, who launched a San Antonio Spurs’ dynasty, and have come up empty since.
These current playoff get-together sessions among the ex-Knicks weren’t pre-planned. Ewing works for the team as an ambassador, so he’s at every game. Starks is somewhat of a regular during the season, calling himself “a transplanted New Yorker.” Then others started showing up for the playoffs. Now they have a dedicated row at the Garden and get TV airtime.
A handful of the ex-Knicks have traveled in the playoffs and will do so in the Finals. But their visibility is heightened — and more welcome — at the Garden, which will host Games 3 and 4 of the championship series.
Strangely, Marbury has joined the group lately. He played five seasons with the Knicks and they struggled. But he’s a Coney Island native, so all is forgiven.
And then there’s Johnson. Late in Game 3 of the ’99 East Finals, he executed a four-point play — a 3-pointer and free throw — that shook the Garden. Asked how many times that shot, one of the most dramatic in Knicks history, is mentioned to him by fans, he laughed.
The Knicks’ Allan Houston stunned Miami with a runner as the clock expired in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series.
“All the time,” he said. “All the time. And you know what? I never get tired of it.”
Johnson spent his first five seasons with the Charlotte Hornets, the only other team for which he played. They made him a No. 1 overall Draft pick in 1991 and he found glory there.
“You know how many times I’ve gone back to the Charlotte Hornets? Zero times,” he said. “I’ve been back to Charlotte because of Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry, been back for their golf tournament but never been back to the arena, not one time.”
Asked why, he said: “I don’t have no ill will, but they don’t do this,” and then Johnson pointed to his former New York teammates sitting next to him.
“The Knicks brought me back, brought Spree back, brought Marcus Camby, one of my best teammates, brought all of us back. If it takes us coming back to a game to see guys you haven’t seen in 10 years, 15 years, it’s more than worth it.”
And he added:
“You know where my heart is. Once a Knick, always a Knick.”
‘We want them to finish the job’
The Knicks storm back to win Game 1 in OT against the Cavs in a historic moment for New York.
There are obvious connections between the old and new Knicks. Towns is one the best outside-shooting big men in history. And who was among the first? Ewing, who in his prime was almost automatic from 18 feet.
“I love KAT,” said Ewing, “he’s very talented, he shoots the ball, passes the ball, we’re expecting great things from him.”
Johnson says his carbon copy is OG Anunoby because “me and OG have the same body type, did the same thing, shot a 3-pointer now and then, but really make our bones in the paint.”
When the conversation is about the current Knicks, it centers on the group more than any individual.
Ewing: “Leon (Rose, the team president) went out and got winning guys. I’m always around them, always give my opinion, make sure they feel the respect that I have for them.”
Johnson: “I like how they play the right way. You know, the NBA has changed, teams throwing up 3s. But these guys, they’re defense-first. They play together. They look out for each other.
“It’s hard to play in New York. These guys want to be here and you can tell by what they do on the court. They play the game the way it is meant to be played. How could you not love that? How could you not want to come back and see this?”
The Knicks do not have a monopoly on old-timers showing up for the playoffs. In San Antonio right now, there’s David Robinson and Manu Ginobili and Sean Elliott and a dreadlocked Duncan sitting in the stands with the normal folk and supporting Victor Wembanyama and the current Spurs in the Western Conference Finals.
The difference is, those ex-Spurs have rings and, in the case of Duncan and Robinson, at the expense of the Knicks in ’99. So there’s a different dynamic between the two alums, more of a sense of urgency in New York.
In a bit of nostalgic timing, the Knicks had Ewing narrate the conference finals hype video that played before Game 1. Ewing explained the high stakes and the pride of New York and the value of teamwork.
And that’s why the former Knicks, most of whom played for multiple teams, felt the need to return.
“This is the Mecca,” Ewing said. “Everybody wants to come back to the Mecca. I played 15 years here and everywhere I go, when they see me they think of my 15 years playing for the Knicks.
“We have a kinship with this team right now. We want them to get to where we didn’t get. Well, we got there, but we didn’t finish the job. We want them to finish the job.”
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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA since 1985. You can e-mail him at spowell@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.
