The home stretch is here. In less than a week, the Knicks will raise their long-awaited third championship banner on national television at Madison Square Garden. It’s a day 53 years in the making.
As we get closer, we continue to move along our chronicle of the 53-year championship drought. Today, we pick up after the Knicks’ failed pursuit of LeBron James in 2010 and into the Knickstape era that finally returned the Mecca to postseason basketball, only for a plethora of drama, incompetency, and humiliation rituals to sink the franchise as far into the doldrums as they ever had been by the time the COVID-19 pandemic rang in the start of the 2020s.
The previous iterations of this series had distinct identities. Part I was about transitioning from an aging Golden Age core; Part II was about the Ewing era and the revival of the Knicks brand; and Part III was the Isiah Thomas clown show. This part bridges eras, but also shows the broad range of emotion of a championship drought nearing 50 years and an identity of LolKnicks that would be hard to shed.
Unlike the previous parts, there will be more visually stupid, individual moments in here, rather than front office moves and playoff failures. Such is the case with things we remember more vividly.
This is a really long one, folks, but that’s mostly because, unlike the old ones, which I’ve had to hear about my entire life through the accounts of others, I lived through this. It’s just nice to know that after this, it’s first-world problems from here.
Getting Impatient And Trading For Melo (2011)
After missing out on LeBron, the Knicks quickly pivoted to Amar’e Stoudemire, who had a sensational first season in New York with a young, middling roster. It was clear he was going to need another big-time scorer by his side for this team to actually move forward as a contender.
Midway through the 2010-11 season, it was clear that the Nuggets were going to lose their young star, Carmelo Anthony, in free agency that offseason. Despite being one of the best teams in the Western Conference, they were open to moving him.
Enter the Knicks.
The New York native was considered extremely likely to head east in free agency. The Knicks, as the preeminent brand in the market, were heavy favorites to land him, but there was the threat of the Jay-Z-owned, soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets, who were planning on pursuing Melo as well.
Feeling the pressure and also being fearful of the upcoming CBA negotiations, the Knicks engaged in trade talks with the Nuggets, but Denver demanded an extremely steep package, one that general manager Donnie Walsh was balking at.
James Dolan, as always, meddled and forced the trade through.
Four of the Knicks’ best young players, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, Wilson Chandler, and Danilo Gallinari, along with two future first-round picks (one of which became Jamal Murray), would head off to the Nuggets for the prodigal son. Everyone rejoiced… except Walsh.
The trade would completely gut New York’s depth and have them completely reliant on the duo of Stoudemire and Anthony. They’d be swept by the Celtics in the first round after slipping into the playoffs, but the pairing had promise if they could continue to add talent… and as long as neither of them regressed.
The End Of Linsanity (2012)
Jeremy Lin was a second-year bench-warming point guard from Harvard, getting a rare opportunity to suit up on February 4, 2012. That night would go down in history as the start of an international phenomenon known as Linsanity.
Shortly after, an injury to Melo vaulted him into the starting lineup. In an 11-game span, Lin averaged 23.9 points, 9.2 assists, and 2.4 steals on 50% from the field and 36.1% from three, carrying a once-struggling Knicks team to a 9-2 stretch that saved their season.
After scoring 17 and 9 against Atlanta on February 22, the clock struck midnight on Lin. With Melo back, he was forced to take a backseat anyway, but he was still the team’s new starting point guard. The aura of Linsanity dissipated with an ugly 1-for-11, 8-turnover night against the Heat on February 23, the first such hardship he had experienced.
Some believe he turned back into a pumpkin after, but he actually still averaged 15 and 7 over the next 14 games as a complementary piece. He had seemed to find his place in the pecking order… until he suffered a season-ending knee injury on March 24.
After the season concluded, Lin hit restricted free agency. The Houston Rockets bit on his run as a superstar in the World’s Most Famous Arena and offered him a three-year, $25 million pact that the Knicks wouldn’t match due to a poison-pill provision that spiked his Year 3 salary. Initial reports of a four-year,$28 million deal would’ve reportedly been matched, but it didn’t.
The sharpest rise and fall ever.
Mike D’Antoni Resigns (March 2012)
The 2011-12 Knicks were a chaotic group. A midseason injury to Melo, regression from Amar’e, Linsanity, a dreadful start turning into an incredible 28-15 finish to get into the playoffs, and a coaching fiasco to put the cherry on top,
The worry when the Knicks acquired Melo was that his offensive playstyle, one of isolation offense, was a clash with D’Antoni’s mentality of pace and ball movement. That came to a head way quicker than anyone thought.
Lin’s rise seemed to be the last straw. He fit what D’Antoni wanted. When the great vibes from Linsanity wore off in March as these styles clashed, Melo gave the front office an ultimatum: it’s either me or him.
D’Antoni allegedly wanted to trade Melo to the Nets for Deron Williams, which, ironically, was something that Donnie Walsh wanted back in 2011. Of course, the man who overreached to get Melo wasn’t going to ditch him, since he was bringing the Knicks back to relevance for the first time in a decade, so D’Antoni was pushed out and resigned, and his assistant, Mike Woodson, replaced him.
Dating back to Rick Pitino, the Knicks had now had five full-time head coaches resign in 20 years. Not fired; resigned. Totally normal.
Amar’e Punches A Fire Extinguisher (2012 1st Round, Game 2)
A turbulent season ended with a 36-30 record, with the Knicks clinching the No. 7 seed. Unfortunately, that earned them a date with the Heatles.
Miami shellacked the Knicks by 33 points in Game 1 at American Airlines Arena before outlasting them by 10 in Game 2. Stoudemire, who was having a down season marred by injuries, was held to just 27 total points and 12 rebounds across the two games while being opposed by Chris Bosh. The vibes were low, and this circus of a season hit its peak after the game when he was walking back to the locker room.
Out of frustration, Stoudemire punched the glass case of a fire extinguisher, suffering severe lacerations in his left hand. A season that was already on the brink now saw the team’s second option take himself out of a crucial Game 3 at MSG because he couldn’t control his temper.
The Knicks scored just 70 points in Game 3 in a blowout loss, effectively ending the series. Amar’e returned for Game 4 and scored 20 in a close win, but the season ended in Miami just three days later.
Stoudemire’s Knicks tenure would be defined by these injuries. He missed the first 30 games of a great 2012-13 season and later the final month of the regular season due to recurring knee issues, not returning until Game 3 of the second round against the Pacers.
His injuries forced him to be load-managed and come off the bench. He would start just 35 games as a Knick after blasting that fire extinguisher, eventually being bought out in February 2015. For one year, Amar’e let us dream, but his body failed him after.
Roy Hibbert’s Block (2013 ECSF, Game 6)
The Knicks rebounded from that disappointing exit in 2012 by continuing to get stronger. They brought in Raymond Felton, J.R. Smith, and Jason Kidd; they got a full training camp with big trade acquisition Tyson Chandler, and the Knicks burst out to an 8-1 start, looking like a legitimate threat in the East.
The injuries to Stoudemire hung over the team, but they went on to win 54 games and clinch the No. 2 seed. They were determined to make the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 13 years and get revenge on the Heat… but they had to get there first.
The aging rival Celtics were first on the revenge calendar, as the Knicks took a quick 3-0 lead on them, looking for payback for a 2011 sweep, but those older Celts, playing their last games as a core before that infamous Brooklyn game, fought back and got all the way to Game 6 in Boston before New York put them out of their misery.
Those two extra games robbed them of some rest and recuperation that they could’ve used into a series with the feisty, up-and-coming Pacers.
Sure enough, the Knicks looked flat in Game 1 at the Garden and were immediately at a disadvantage. Even when they got Amar’e back for Game 3 in Indiana, he was a non-factor as they lost both at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. A win facing elimination at MSG set up a crucial Game 6. This couldn’t be how the best Knicks team of a generation goes out, right?
The Knicks trailed by double digits early in the second half, but stormed all the way back to tie it after three quarters. Leading by two with five minutes to go, the Knicks had the momentum as the veteran team that refused to die when Melo rose for a dunk on the baseline, but that momentum was stolen the second that Roy Hibbert got his big left hand on the ball.
Lance Stephenson tied the game on the ensuing position and the Knicks never led again. Indiana went on a quick 11-2 run that helped them pull away, and despite the best efforts of Melo and J.R., they never got enough stops to give themselves a chance after that.
While it was disheartening, many believed that the window was still open for 2013-14 and beyond. Nobody then knew this would be the last Knick playoff game for another eight years.
The Andrea Bargnani Trade (July 2013)
It’s no coincidence the second Dark Ages in Knicks history was brought on by the Harbinger of Death himself, Andrea Bargnani.
Glen Grunwald, who was really just a placeholder after Walsh resigned in 2011, was only two months away from being replaced as lead executive by Steve Mills, but he made his impact in the arguable worst trade in Knicks history, sending Marcus Camby, fan favorite Steve Novak, Quentin Richardson, a 2016 first, and two seconds for the former No. 1 pick.
Bargnani enjoyed some solid seasons as Chris Bosh’s second fiddle before becoming a 20-PPG scorer in 2010-11. The two seasons before the trade, he was limited to 65 games, while his stretch-four abilities waned and his three-point shooting regressed sharply. An elbow injury suffered the year before the trade seemed not to dissuade management.
The package they gave up wasn’t as inhibitive, but there were two key points. For one, they were taking on Bargnani’s remaining contract of two years and $23.5 million on an already expensive roster. Didn’t Dolan refuse to pay Lin because he was worried about the luxury tax?
Oh yeah, they also traded away the back end of a 2016 first-round pick swap that they got with Melo in the trade with Denver. The Knicks would be terrible by 2016 and could’ve used that swap that landed at No. 9.
As for Bargnani’s Knicks career, he sucked. He was the poster child of the team’s failure to maximize the rest of Melo’s prime, as Amar’e regressed hard, Chandler was traded, and this guy made eight figures to make boneheaded decision after boneheaded decision while battling injury. In two years, he played 71 total games and was awful.
For the next decade, Raptors fans took joy in clowning the Knicks for being scammed by Masai Ujiri. If only there was a way to pay them back…
The Chris Smith Saga (October 2013)
Steve Mills was now in charge, and boy did he have a doozy of a dilemma right when he took the gig.
J.R. Smith was coming off a Sixth Man of the Year campaign and was a beloved Knick, but he was quickly approaching free agency. The Knicks wanted him to extend, which he did for three years and $18 million that summer, so they did him and his family a little favor.
Chris Smith was J.R.’s younger, less-talented brother. He was still better than 99.9% of the world at basketball- don’t get me wrong- but after an okay career at Louisville that never stood out, he signed a training camp deal with the Knicks in 2012 and participated in Summer League. That’s no big deal; this happens all the time.
He was waived after an injury in 2012, but was back in camp the next year. Despite injuries making the roster a bit shallow entering the season, the Knicks decided that Chris was good enough to make the roster. Fans and the media, obviously, cried nepotism.
Whether it was or not, Smith played a grand total of two minutes as a Knick, spent much of his time in the D League, and was waived on New Year’s Eve. What the hell was the point of all that?
Phil Jackson Hired as President Of Basketball Operations (2014)
In 2005, James Dolan and Isiah Thomas went all-in on bringing one of the greatest coaches of all time to New York to lead a ragtag group back to Camelot. They failed, as he shockingly decided to stick with Kobe Bryant, and settled for the disastrous Larry Brown experience.
Jackson retired as a coach in 2011, but that wouldn’t stop Dolan’s quest to bring the Zen Master back to where he won a pair of titles as a player in 1970 and 1973. It took months of negotiating, but Dolan locked him in as POBO in March 2014, giving him a whopping $60 million contract.
Because of his pedigree, the move was universally celebrated. Those poor souls in March 2014 didn’t know that Jackson would attempt to be just as bad as Isiah was a decade earlier.
The Crawl Towards The Abyss (2013-15)
The Knicks, one season after winning 54 games, started 2013-14 with a 3-13 record. Amar’e was banged up, Chandler was banged up, Felton regressed, Bargnani sucked and got hurt, and the team became more and more reliant on Melo for scoring. Things just got worse and worse.
A seven-game losing streak sunk them to 21-40 on March 3. The season was completely cooked. Even worse, the team’s 2014 pick was in Denver. Because of that, the team probably found the extra gear to finish 16-5 and miss the playoffs by just one game. That strong finish must mean things will change, right?
Well, Jackson cleaned house in the coaching staff despite Woodson wanting to coach under Jackson and finishing strong. In keeping with the standard of bringing in “winners” who had no experience doing what they were doing, Jackson hired just-retired former Laker Derek Fisher as coach to run his triangle offense.
Jackson convinced Melo to re-sign on a $124 million supermax and traded Chandler and Felton to the Mavericks for a bunch of guys who didn’t amount to much and two seconds as his first two moves as executive. Well, if you don’t count signing Lamar Odom, Stephen A. can tell you about that.
The Knicks’ best pick in the 2014 draft was No. 34, used to select Cleanthony Early. Notably, still on the board? Spencer Dinwiddie, Jerami Grant, and Nikola Jokic.
After starting the season 2-1, the Knicks lost 34 of their next 37 games. They were an unbelievable 5-35 when the NBA sent them to London to face a young Giannis and the Bucks, which they lost en route to their 16th consecutive loss, a franchise record. A couple of small wins here and there did little to stop the runaway train of a 17-65 season, the worst in franchise history.
At least they had their pick this year…
Andrea Bargnani Being Dumb (2013-15)
I told you this part would also include in-game stupidity that didn’t have long-range effects. That’s what the Second Dark Ages were known for.
Here’s some stupid Bargnani moments. First, he made Clyde Frazier completely lose his mind when he shot a three with the shot clock off and the lead late in regulation on December 18, 2013.
He’s lucky the Knicks won in overtime. Now, here’s him trying to dunk from the damn free throw line for some reason against an equally bad Sixers team:
Good stuff.
The 2015 Draft Lottery
You would think with a 17-65 record, the Knicks would have the best lottery odds. Unfortunately, their futility was matched by the dreadful Timberwolves, who won just 16 games. The Knicks lost out at 25% odds after winning two of their last three games. Meaningless wins tanking lottery odds, you say…
That would come back to bite them. With still good odds (19.9%) of landing Kentucky superstar Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks felt good. Even if they didn’t get him, there was still star Ohio State guard D’Angelo Russell and Duke forward Jahlil Okafor, all considered Grade A talent. There was a 55.8% chance the Knicks would stay in the top 3.
They fell to No. 4, the first of many lottery disasters for the late-2010s Knicks.
Now, they’d be pretty fortunate to have Kristaps Porzingis fall into their laps, but this was a deeply unpopular pick that even drove a young fan to tears. This moment was the peak of Jackson’s executive tenure: the one thing he did right.
Cleanthony Early Gets Shot (December 2015)
Early was never a big part of the Knicks’ plans, but he was at least a young player that had a moderate amount of investment put into him as the team’s top player from the 2014 draft class. While his tenure is very forgettable, one thing wasn’t.
On December 30, 2015, Early was shot in the leg and robbed by an unknown assailant after exiting a Queens strip club. This, one day after he logged 26 seconds in garbage time against the Pistons, would keep him out until late March. He’d play his last game as a Knick, and in the NBA, three weeks later.
It was also incredibly ironic timing, as recent signing Derrick Williams had $600,000 worth of jewelry stolen by two women he took home from a club in Manhattan 10 days earlier. Nice culture you’ve got here, Mr. Fisher.
Midseason Collapse 1.0 (2015-16)
While the Knicks still had Carmelo Anthony, they still had eyes on winning. Despite coming off a 17-win season in 2014-15, nobody was capitulating.
The Knicks had an active offseason, signing Robin Lopez to a four-year, $54 million deal, Arron Afflalo to a two-year, $16 million deal, Kyle O’Quinn to a four-year, $16 million deal, and drafting Jerian Grant at No. 19 by trading away the underwhelming Tim Hardaway Jr.
Their intention to compete translated into wins early. Despite some ebbs and flows, the Knicks matched their previous season’s win total on January 5 and won consecutive overtime games at the Garden to improve to 22-22 on January 20. When they woke up two days later to face the Clippers, they were ninth in the East, but also just two games back of fifth. This was what they wanted.
The Clippers destroyed them that night in MSG. After a loss to Charlotte, they pushed an incredible Thunder team to the brink at home, but lost in OT. They split their next two games, but tumbled further with losses to the Warriors, Celtics, Pistons, Grizzlies, and Nuggets. Nine losses in 10 games to drop to 23-31.
That cost Derek Fisher his job, as he was fired by Jackson. His job was already tedious entering the season after he struggled to acclimate to it. His spat with Matt Barnes in October probably didn’t help either. The ESPN article about his firing, mentioning more former Lakers who could replace him, embodies how dumb this franchise was.
Under interim head coach Kurt Rambis, the Knicks lost two more games before finally ending the losing streak. That wouldn’t make things any better in a 9-19 finish that saw the team finish with 50 losses for the second straight season.
“They’re Saying Us And Golden State Are The Super Teams” (2016)
The entire 2016 offseason, looking back, was a humiliation ritual.
That 44-game start before things went off the rails allowed management to double down on believing this team, now focused around an aging Anthony and a young phenom in Porzingis,
Jackson, who could not stop looking at his old Bulls and Lakers, decided to poach two Bulls icons who were past their prime because, why not?
A stunning trade for Chicago’s favorite son, Derrick Rose, shipped out Lopez, Jerian Grant, and Jose Calderon for an uber-talented guard who could not stay on the court. Who cares that he was making $22 million and hadn’t been the star he was once in four years? It’s Derrick Rose!
Two weeks later, as part of the league-wide stupidity that resulted from the cap spiking, Jackson signed Courtney Lee to a four-year, $48 million contract, but that paled in comparison to the real prize.
Joakim Noah was signed to a four-year, $72 million contract, the largest free agent signing in franchise history. As a former Defensive Player of the Year, Noah was supposed to make up for the roster’s defensive deficiencies, but I think the team forgot he was now 31, several years removed from his impactful prime, and coming off an injury-laden season.
The roster looked good on paper. Derrick Rose, Courtney Lee, Carmelo Anthony, Kristaps Porzingis, and Joakim Noah, with a bench group of Justin Holiday, former Bucks star Brandon Jennings, Lance Thomas, and Kyle O’Quinn. It prompted some bold words from D-Rose on Media Day:
I’m still not sure who said this, Derrick, but confidence is cool.
This offseason was a disaster, namely with the Lee and Noah contracts being extremely prohibitive to the salary cap going forward. In two disastrous seasons as a Knick, Noah tried his hardest to be the next Jerome James or Bargnani, playing 53 total games and averaging just 4.6 points and 7.9 rebounds before injuries, a PED suspension, and head coach Jeff Hornacek putting him in exile in January 2018, before he was finally bought out.
Charles Oakley Incident (February 2017)
The Knicks’ season was cooked by the time the Clippers came to town for their annual trip to MSG on February 8, 2017, as the Knicks entered at 22-31 amidst another collapse.
A close loss to a very good Lob City Clippers team isn’t really a story. What was a story? Franchise legend Charles Oakley, a symbol of the team’s grit and physicality in the 90s, was caught on camera getting into a fight with security just six minutes into the game, right behind the basket.
He had apparently purchased a seat a few rows behind Dolan and began jeering him. Security was then called to remove him; things got physical, and the Knicks legend was booked for assault after punching three different MSG security officers.
It’s maybe the defining moment of Dolan’s tenure. With all the off-court drama and absolutely baffling decisions, it’s his spat with a fan favorite from an era of joy in the midst of years of misery that stands out.
These two have been fighting it out for nine years, with a judge recently dismissing Oakley’s accusation of being assaulted himself in August. I was honestly shocked that this was still going on.
Midseason Collapse 2.0 (2016-17)
They were never Warriors good, obviously, but the 2016-17 Knicks were a solid bunch for a little while. They started 14-10 by feasting on a soft, early-season slate that was loaded with lower-level Western Conference teams. By the time they hosted the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day, they were 16-13 and fifth in the East.
Just like last year, despite having a new coach in Jeff Hornacek, the Knicks collapsed. After Melo tied the game at 112 on Christmas with 1:06 to go, Marcus Smart hit a go-ahead three that would ultimately give the Celtics the lead for good. Three days later, the Knicks lost in overtime against Atlanta. They’d lose 13 of 16, including a back-breaking buzzer-beater loss to future foe TJ McConnell and Philly, to sink down to 19-26 by MLK Day.
The clown show around the organization also proceeded. D-Rose just disappeared on January 9 without notifying anyone due to a family issue. He did return, but wound up ending his season in familiar fashion with torn cartilage in his knee in late March.
Melo started to rebel against Jackson’s triangle system, leading to a very public spat between the two. Dolan didn’t learn his lesson on how to construct a roster. He wanted Melo so badly on his team he cast aside D’Antoni, but was foolish enough to think that Jackson, another personality with a very different offensive philosophy to Melo’s iso ball, was going to make a difference.
Jackson tried to trade Anthony, but his no-trade clause got in the way. The feeling of the 2016-17 season quickly turned into one that felt like the New York icon’s last in the city that embraced him from the start.
The Knicks sank to 30-51 and seemed fated for the sixth-best lottery odds, but a Game 82 game-winner by Maurice N’dour slipped them below the Timberwolves in the lottery standings and ultimately led to them falling to No. 8.
After this failure of a season, the 2017 offseason was going to be crucial, but it was just as bad as the last one.
Phil Jackson Sets The Franchise Ablaze On His Way Out (2017 Offseason)
After the season ended, the Knicks held customary exit meetings. Porzingis, in his first sign of discontent with the organizational dysfunction, skipped out, drawing public ire from Jackson, who began shopping the promising Latvian big man in the trade market.
Imagine that. The best young player the Knicks have had in generations is being shopped because he made the POBO mad. No trade occurred, but between this and him very publicly trying to push Melo out the door, it just seemed like Jackson was trying to torpedo the franchise and whatever good they had left.
There were rumblings that he wanted to ship Porzingis out in a bid to move up in the 2017 NBA Draft, but the Knicks stayed at No. 8. Despite having New York native Donovan Mitchell on the board, Jackson drafted French point guard Frank Ntilikina, another European guy who had potential, but also a tremendously low floor.
It’d be whatever if this was just a typical bad draft pick, but Jackson would depart from the organization literally five days later. Dolan allowed this guy to call the shots for two months through the NBA Draft, let him select the guy he wanted, and then kicked him out before free agency began. It was the right move to move on, but to let him stick around to publicly drag your young star and make a crucial lottery pick is malpractice.
The Tim Hardaway Jr. Offer Sheet (2017)
Steve Mills took over as the interim President of Basketball Operations after Jackson’s firing in his second stint with the club. A few months before his first stint in charge began in October 2013, the Knicks drafted Tim Hardaway Jr. Two years later, he was shipped out for Jerian Grant, who was later fodder for D-Rose.
Fast forward to 2017. Hardaway became a pretty solid player for the Hawks, averaging 14.5 points a night as a sixth man. One year after the catastrophic Lee and Noah contracts, the Knicks gave Hardaway a baffling $72 million offer sheet, one the Hawks didn’t even consider matching.
Hardaway played some of his best basketball over the next year and a half, first as a running mate to Porzingis and then as the team’s best scorer after he went down with an injury, but he wasn’t worth $72 million. His salary was dumped in a January 2019 trade as part of the never-ending churn.
The Rise And Steep Fall Of Kristaps Porzingis (2018)
Carmelo Anthony was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder before the 2017-18 season, definitively ending one era of Knicks basketball. The team was now solely and unequivocally Porzingis’s.
In his first two seasons, the 7’3” unicorn averaged 16 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks. He was a two-way savant who could shoot the lights out from three and do everything a wing could do while being the tallest player in basketball. It was the Victor Wembanyama prototype.
With Melo out the door, there was nobody to take touches away from him. Hornacek configured the offense around his 22-year-old budding star. In his first 11 games as the No. 1, he averaged a staggering 30.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks on 51.3% from the field and 41.8% from deep. It was around this time in mid-November that a much younger me was bragging about my new star to classmates who were buzzing about Joel Embiid and the process down in South Jersey.
My younger delusional self believed Porzingis was an MVP in the making. As much as I loved watching Carmelo Anthony as a Knick, Porzingis was the new gold standard of Knicks basketball for me. As the months went on and he went from this MVP form to just being a certified star in this league, it didn’t matter what happened on the court.
Sure, the Knicks weren’t good. Sure, the Knicks had not much promising talent around him. Sure, there was plenty of skepticism whether many of the players, coaches, or executives could be part of the next great Knicks team, but there was one thing for certain as the calendar turned to 2018.
The Knicks were back in the late 1980s. They had their new Patrick Ewing. As long as Porzingis stayed upright and happy, the Knicks had a foundational piece that they had lacked in the many years of wandering the abyss. They didn’t have the pressure to win like they had with Melo or Phil or Isiah, they had a young star and the ability to dream.
Then came February 6, 2018.
It’s a day etched in my memory forever. Maybe I’ll be able to forget it one day now that the ghosts can’t hurt me anymore after that championship, but the simple fact was this. Starting with that day and over the next 18 months, a young me was traumatized by what would be the darkest year in Knicks history.
The game started fine. It was a blockbuster battle between two freaks of nature, Porzingis and Giannis Antetokounmpo. While the Greek Freak was on a team destined for greatness and thus way ahead of the Knicks in their ascension, the Knicks had their first homegrown All-Star since David Lee, but surely there would be a lot more than just one All-Star appearance in the Unicorn’s career.
With just under nine minutes to play in the second quarter, Kyle O’Quinn held the ball on the right elbow, closely guarded by Tyler Zeller. Porzingis, involved in an off-ball action with Lance Thomas, cut to the rim, received the pass from O’Quinn, and posterized Giannis.
In another life, this is an all-time highlight in a career tape that has seen the budding superstar do this to plenty of household names. Unfortunately, he landed awkwardly on his left knee. He fell to the floor, writhing in pain.
I was walking out of basketball practice when I grabbed my phone from the locker and saw a Bleacher Report notification that spoke of Porzingis leaving the game with a knee injury. I frantically clicked the notification and saw the clip. It wasn’t long after that the worst fears were realizd: a season-ending torn ACL.
The injury itself was brutal. While they don’t seem as harrowing long-term today, these were the injuries you feared could hurt a player’s long-term potential. While players come back quicker and quicker now from these injuries, it was clear that this would mean likely no Porzingis until the start of the 2019-20 season.
So, as much as the dread was the possibility of him never being the same, which did wind up being true, this moment was the beginning of what would be the most humiliating 18 months of being a Knicks fan ever.
Not long after this, Giannis literally jumped over Hardaway on an alley-oop. This game was the beginning of a humiliation ritual that never seemed to end.
A Grab Bag Of Humiliating Dark Ages On-Court Moments (2015-19)
The Giannis poster is just the tip of the iceberg.
None of these plays influenced the franchise at all, they’re just dumb and would be put in LolKnicks compilations.
In the midst of a December 2016 blowout against LeBron James and the defending champion Cavaliers, he and his teammates began performing the then-popular Bottle Flip Challenge on the sideline. LeBron flipped it too far and had to sprawl on the court to grab it. This is how serious teams took us.
Y’all remember Jarrett Jack? He’s most memorable as a Knick for me for this ridiculous heave attempt on November 1, 2017. Credit to him, before the recent rule change, nobody would be ballsy enough to sacrifice their shooting percentage to just chuck a ball like that.
Three weeks later, this somehow happened at the end of a win over the Raptors.
There is so much going on here. First, this was the night the Knicks went on a historic 28-0 run against a very good Raptors team, so vibes were high. What the hell is Spike doing on the sideline? The ref eating it is funny, but why is Hardaway calling him safe like he’s an umpire? What the hell is going on?
I don’t remember many regular season games from this era. It’s a memory-hole situation. One of the ones I remember was when, for some reason, the Knicks were told to play the Wizards in London on January 17, 2019. A younger me was excited to watch when I came home from school.
Entering at 10-33, the Knicks were actually in a position to win this one. They led the entire game, but were stuck in a back-and-forth battle at the death. A go-ahead hook shot from Noah Vonleh gave the Knicks the lead, but they needed a stop.
With three seconds left, the Wizards inbounded and passed it to a cutting Thomas Bryant, who attempted a game-winning layup at the buzzer over Emmanuel Mudiay and Allonzo Trier. He missed, but the refs called a buzzer-beating goaltending. One in a million, this team was.
Finally, we’re going to right before the Porzingis trade. The Knicks were going to shed basically every veteran on that team, so it became apparent that the same was coming to Enes Kanter. It might be hard to remember given his current exploits, but this guy was a pretty good Knick given the circumstances.
While he was being shopped on the trade market, Kanter was being sat for much of January. Was it also likely for the development of guys like Mitchell Robinson and Luke Kornet? Sure, but we knew the reason.
After sitting four straight games, Kanter was given a chance in a blowout in the third quarter against the Mavs on January 30. He kissed the court, showing his love to a fanbase that chanted “We Want Kanter”. It’s a great gesture, but I wish he just didn’t airball.
That’d be the funny moment from that night’s latest loss, but there would be no smiles the very next day.
The Kristaps Porzingis Trade (2019)
There was a cloud over the entire 2018-19 season, one that the horrendous coaching of David Fizdale couldn’t help. The roster was a mess, reminiscent of the Island of Misfit Toys. It was one of the worst collections of talent in modern NBA history. The only goal in mind was tanking for Zion Williamson, which we’ll get to later.
The one glimmer of hope was Porzingis, still in street clothes, still on the bench. One day, he’d return and save us.
What nobody could’ve imagined when this injury happened was that when Porzingis was helped into the locker room, that was the last time we would ever see him wear No. 6 in orange and blue. What would things look like if he had just been able to stay upright? We’ll never know, but management used his injury and his frustration to prepare for their most ambitious quest yet.
I was walking home from school on January 31, 2019, when I saw notification after notification from Woj about Porzingis’ discontent with the franchise. Remember the saga with his brother agent? He wanted more control in the organization. When the Knicks balked, Porzingis decided he was done with this franchise, demanding a trade.
Instead of either calling his bluff ahead of restricted free agency (which would be muddied by the ACL tear) or waiting a few days and fielding calls, a scared and antsy front office traded him to the Mavericks immediately in a massive deal that partially served as a salary dump to get rid of Hardaway and Lee’s contracts.
It was the latest LolKnicks in a long line of ‘em. The only promise in the organization was gone.
What was left in its wake was a dream. A dream of a Big 3 that could be formed in about a week in the most ambitious offseason plan in NBA history.
The 2019 Draft Lottery
The Knicks tanked for this. They had avoided bottoming out many times, but for once, they were committed to it.
The worst franchise in the NBA in the 21st century was finally in the cellar and would get the spoils of a team that once again lost 65 games. 34 years after winning the lottery for Ewing and four months after trading their only talented young player in the decades since, they were all-in on Zion and the dream of pairing him with two max salaries in free agency.
One small problem. Adam Silver’s anti-tanking philosophy, which has been heavily ramped up recently, was sparked in the 2018 offseason. That year, he decided to do something bold and flatten the lottery odds. The worst team’s odds would shrink from 25 percent to just 14 percent. The one year the Knicks decided to bottom out, this happened. Of course.
And, as you might’ve expected, they fell in the lottery. After falling two spots in 2015 and one in 2018, they fell another two spots in 2019. The dream of Zion was dead, Jorge Sedano screamed with joy, and millions of Knicks fans’ hope began to dissipate.
RJ Barrett was cool, I guess. The Knicks actually probably won out here by not having to deal with Ja Morant and Zion’s off-court stuff, but this sucked in the moment. We dared not dread what would happen if free agency also went wrong…
The Most Disastrous Free Agency In NBA History (July 2019)
All this time. The entire 2018-19 season.
Amidst the depressing and dark season, after the team traded the team’s only proven young talent, after the failure of not being able to draft Zion, there was one hope.
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving (among others, which included Kawhi Leonard and Kemba Walker) were free agents. Both had privately expressed a desire to team up. The Knicks were one of the only teams that had the space to do so.
At All-Star Weekend, someone caught them talking, where Irving seemed to gesture “two max spots”. All year, it was floated as more than a possibility. The savior complex that the media had, always trying to find someone to save the Knicks, put them in their crosshairs.
Leading into free agency, doubt was forming. The Knicks were a dumpster fire that didn’t have Zion and were run by idiots. Rumors started to buzz that Kyrie, an Elizabeth native who was the driving force in any talks of going to New York, was leaning toward the Nets. Irving posted on social media that he was going to the Nets, but the real horror came when Durant said he was following, leaving the Knicks empty-handed.
This was rock bottom. An offseason that was supposed to save the franchise reinforced its misery. Dolan didn’t offer Durant a max off his Achilles tear anyway. They didn’t even get a meeting with Kawhi. The organization literally had to issue a statement to a pissed-off fanbase.
In its wake, the team signed Julius Randle to a $63 million contract in an offseason that’d be defined by the team signing a billion power forwards, namely Taj Gibson, Bobby Portis, and Marcus Morris. The Knicks had $70 million in cap space and spent it on role players.
As far as we knew, this franchise was dead.
David Fizdale Fired (2019)
The 2019-20 season was, honestly, the most peaceful in this entire stretch. The team was really bad, sure, but there was nothing to even be excited about that could disappoint you. They personified the quote from Zendaya’s portrayal of MJ from the recent Spider-Man movies:
There was still one thing. The Knicks got off to a horrid start to the season, as none of the veterans they acquired were able to gel with the young and disappointing nucleus. Scott Perry and Steve Mills thought it was a good idea to address the press after 10 games. After getting obliterated by the Bucks (which gave us this gem) and Nuggets in consecutive games to drop to 4-18, the worst 22-game start in franchise history, Fizdale was fired.
He was a terrible coach, one whose failure in New York has likely cost him another opportunity, but he was viewed as a scapegoat. You rarely saw Woj have opinionated tweets, but you got one here. To them, this was the leader of the Grit and Grind Grizzlies, not the man who embarrassed himself and the Knicks on a nightly basis.
It would be the first of the mass organizational changes to follow. Mike Miller did an admirable job as interim head coach, but the search was on for a successor. Mills would not be the one making that decision, as Leon Rose was hired to head the franchise in early March 2020.
Wonder if that guy knows a thing or two…
Vince Carter Ends His Career In Style (2020)
Carter is an interesting figure in this story of Knicks basketball. His Dunk of Death permanently destroyed the reputation of the team’s chosen successor to Patrick Ewing and likely caused him to never come to America.
Exactly 20 years later, he ended his career in a meaningless game between two awful teams, as the world shut down due to a pandemic, with the Knicks letting him score to end on a high note.
The Knicks walked into the locker room for the final time under Mike Miller… and for the final time as a joke of a basketball team. Leon Rose would get to work not long after it was clear the Knicks wouldn’t return in 2019-20 and begin his six-year process toward raising the most incompetent franchise in history to the top of the mountain.
