The New York Knicks have returned to the NBA Finals for the first time since the calendar flipped to 2000.
New York City is united behind the orange and blue. Their team is set to hoist the O’Brien Trophy for the first time since 1973.
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The exploits of point guard Jalen Brunson and center Karl-Anthony Towns have reawakened the echoes of greatness at Madison Square Garden. Now, New York prepares to face off against the San Antonio Spurs with an 11-game playoff win streak in tow. It’s worth looking back at the franchise’s great players of postseasons past.
Does Brunson belong on this list? Possibly. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith contends a title this season would make him the greatest Knick of all time. We’ll let that play out before rendering a decision.
This ranking is about impact on winning and big-game moments.
There are a few great Knicks who didn’t make the list. John Starks’ 1994 Game 6 against the Houston Rockets, with his fourth-quarter barrage before the final shot rimmed out, still lives in Knicks lore. Latrell Sprewell’s energy during the 1999 run, Charles Oakley’s physicality in every series and even Carmelo Anthony’s brief bursts of postseason scoring all have a place in the conversation.
But here are the final five, listed from No. 5 to No. 1.
Bernard King
Bernard King’s 1984 playoff run is still the standard for pure scoring that every hot Knicks hand gets measured against. On a bad knee and with limited help, King poured in 34.8 points per game, shredding the Detroit Pistons and taking the eventual champion Boston Celtics to seven games. His back-to-back 46-point outings against Detroit, including a Game 5 road win with a broken finger, are the kind of stories older Knicks fans still tell in detail.
That spring, the Knicks were a tough out mostly because King refused to go quietly. He scored from the midrange and lived at the free-throw line. When center Mitchell Robinson appears with a brace to protect a fractured pinky, memories of King will come flooding back.
Willis Reed
Willis Reed walking out of the tunnel for Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals is the most replayed image in franchise history. Playing on a torn muscle in his thigh, he hit the first two jump shots of the night, sparked Madison Square Garden and gave the Knicks the emotional jolt they needed to finish off the Los Angeles Lakers. That game and that entrance turned Reed into the face of toughness for every Knicks team that followed.
Beyond that one night, Reed’s overall playoff resume is sturdy. He anchored the middle for both of New York’s titles (1970 and 1973), set the tone defensively and handled the physical punishment that came with battling Wilt Chamberlain and others. When this 2026 group talks about playing through pain or feeding off the home crowd, that standard still traces back to Reed taking the floor when he probably should not have been walking.
Allan Houston
Allan Houston does not have the same volume numbers as some of the names on this list, but few Knicks have authored a single playoff moment as significant as his Game 5 winner in Miami in 1999. His leaning runner in the final seconds knocked out the top-seeded Heat and changed the entire shape of that postseason, clearing a path for New York’s improbable run from the eight seed to the NBA Finals. It became New York’s last trip to the NBA Finals until this season.
Houston’s broader playoff work gets overlooked. He was the steady perimeter scorer on a team built around size and defense, consistently carrying the late-clock shot-making burden. In that lockout season, he averaged 21.6 points per game and repeatedly bailed out an offense that could grind to a halt. When current Knicks fans look at Brunson operating in crunch time, they are seeing the same role Houston played, only with a modern pick-and-roll flavor instead of Jeff Van Gundy’s slow-it-down approach.
Patrick Ewing
Patrick Ewing is the bridge between the Frazier-Reed championships and whatever this current era becomes. He never won a crown, but he piled up more playoff minutes, points and signature series than any Knick. Through the late 1980s and the entire 1990s, Ewing was the constant presence as New York battled Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, Reggie Miller’s Indiana Pacers and Alonzo Mourning’s Miami Heat.
He anchored deep runs to the 1994 and 1999 NBA Finals, put up 20.2 points and 10.5 rebounds per game across a long postseason career and gave the Knicks a defensive identity that still influences how fans talk about the team. The iconic baseline jumper in Game 7 against the Pacers in 1994 and his 24-point, 22-rebound performance in that same game are snapshots of a player who carried massive expectations every spring.
Walt “Clyde” Frazier
Walt Frazier’s Game 7 masterpiece in the 1970 NBA Finals is still the greatest single-game performance in Knicks history. With Reed hobbled, Frazier delivered 36 points, 19 assists and 7 rebounds while hounding Lakers star Jerry West. That night locked in his reputation and gave the franchise its first title.
Across multiple deep runs, Frazier combined elite defense, steady scoring and late-game composure. He averaged 20.7 points, 7.4 assists and 6.4 rebounds per game during the championship seasons. Also, he guided the offense in an era with far fewer possessions. His ability to raise his level on the biggest stages is the template Jalen Brunson is chasing right now.
Frazier’s status at the top of this list is about more than nostalgia. He delivered championships and left behind a clear blueprint for how a lead guard can own a series.
