The New York Knicks have continually lucked out in trying to attract talent to their city. The ‘Mecca of Basketball’ does not feel like it has been living up to that moniker for decades on end now. Following the Patrick Ewing era of the Knicks, everyone from James Dolan to Isiah Thomas is to blame for NY losing its basketball charm.
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Currently, the team boasts a fair roster of young talent along with players reaching their prime. However, they do not have a single man who could be classified as a superstar. They could not lure guys like Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, or Donovan Mitchell to Madison Square Garden but they did manage to snag someone else.
Jalen Brunson, after playing second/third fiddle on offense in Dallas, signed with the New York Knicks this past offseason. He’s currently making $27 million this 2022-23 NBA season.
Jalen Brunson is the only Knicks point guard to average 20+ as a member of the team
Many called the Brunson signing overrated, especially for the amount of money that he signed for. However, he’s proven himself to have been a fine addition to Thibs’ roster, leading the way on the offensive end of the floor for the Knicks.
He’s currently the only point guard who has played for the Knicks who is averaging 20+ points as a member of the team. No point guard in team history who has played a minimum of 40 games for them has put up points averages of over 20. Brunson is doing so at 22.9 ppg.
Walt Frazier is next with an average of 19.3 points per game. It should be noted though that ‘Clyde’ played 759 games for New York so his average diluting down to 19.3 makes sense. Stephon Marbury also averaged 18.2 points per game but played in a whopping 287 games. Of the three, Brunson is averaging the most 3-point attempts per game as well.
Knicks have been mediocre for a long time
The New York Knicks have had quite the storied history in the NBA. Having been the only team to have survived since the inception of the NBA and stayed in that city, the Knicks have had 75+ years of ups and downs to deal with.
Their highest of highs, of course, was during the 1970s when fashion icon, Walt Frazier, brought two championships to the city. Both the titles were against the Los Angeles Lakers and after that title in 1973, the Knicks would reach the NBA Finals twice.
These instances would be in the Patrick Ewing era of the team and both times a better big man bested Ewing. 1994 saw Hakeem Olajuwon claim what was rightfully was and 1999 saw both Tim Duncan and David Robinson best Ewing.
Ever since then, the Knicks haven’t gotten close to sniffing a deep Playoff run, let alone considering themselves to be title contenders.
