Category: Basketball

It’s crazy to think Jeremy Sochan is about to receive an NBA championship ring regardless of how the Finals play out, despite likely never seeing the floor in the series. Waived by the Spurs midway through the season and later signed by the Knicks, Sochan has been used sparingly by New York. Yet thanks to a bizarre twist of timing, he’ll walk away with championship jewelry no matter which team ultimately raises the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

The Knicks and Spurs might be the last two franchises you’d expect to share a long history together.

Sure, they famously met in the 1999 NBA Finals, when the eighth-seeded Knicks shocked the basketball world by fighting their way through the Eastern Conference before running into Tim Duncan and David Robinson. But outside of those five games, the two franchises have spent most of the last three decades living in completely different worlds.

One spent years collecting Hall of Famers, championships, and 50-win seasons like they were participation trophies. The other spent much of that same period trying to figure out how to stop stepping on rakes.

And despite spending most of the last 30 years in completely different basketball universes, 40 players have somehow ended up playing for both teams. Some were stars. Some were fan favorites. Some were role players who quietly carved out long NBA careers.

The Headliners

David Lee is probably the biggest Knicks success story on the list. Before becoming an All-Star, Lee was one of the few reasons to watch some truly dreadful Knicks teams in the late 2000s. Across 368 games in New York, he averaged 13 points and nearly 10 rebounds while becoming one of the league’s best double-double machines. By the time he landed in San Antonio late in his career, he wasn’t the same player, but he still gave the Spurs a reliable veteran big man who shot 59 percent from the floor during the 2016-17 season.

Kurt Thomas is another obvious one.

Knicks fans still love Kurt Thomas. The man played 569 games in New York, averaged 10.6 points and 7.5 rebounds, and spent most nights looking like he’d happily fight an entire opposing frontcourt by himself if necessary. He later became one of Gregg Popovich’s favorite veteran role players and spent parts of four seasons with the Spurs.

Rod Strickland also stands out.

Many younger fans probably associate him more with Washington, but Strickland started his career with the Knicks before eventually averaging over 14 points per game during two productive seasons in San Antonio. Few point guards from that era could get into the paint whenever they wanted quite like Rod.

Then there’s Trent Tucker.

Most Knicks fans know him because the NBA literally created a rule named after him. Tucker spent eight seasons in New York before eventually becoming part of San Antonio’s first championship team in 1999. That’s a pretty unique NBA résumé.

The Players Who Thrived in Both Places

Charles Smith averaged over 11 points per game in New York and later posted similar production for the Spurs. Maurice Cheeks, long before becoming one of the league’s most respected coaches, spent time with both organizations and remained a steady floor general everywhere he went. J.R. Reid quietly put together nearly 350 combined games between the two teams.

Wait, He Played for Them Too?

Then there are the names that make you stop and do a double take. Tracy McGrady, arguably the biggest name on the entire list, somehow played for both franchises and accomplished virtually nothing with either. Doc Rivers and Antonio McDyess are here too, although McDyess probably deserves an asterisk after averaging 12.3 points and 12 rebounds during New York’s brief but memorable 2001 playoff run. Then you have Charlie Ward, Steve Novak, Nazr Mohammed, Beno Udrih, Roger Mason, Doug McDermott, and Luke Kornet. Some were fan favorites. Some were valuable role players. Some probably had you saying, “Wait, he played for the Spurs too?”

The deeper you go, the stranger the list gets.

Eventually you find yourself staring at names like Billy McGill, Mo Layton, Howard Fisley and Len Chappell. What makes the list interesting isn’t necessarily the star power. It’s how many different eras of Knicks basketball are represented.

You’ve got players from the late 1960s sharing a list with members of the 1999 Finals team, the Melo era, the lean years, and now the Jalen Brunson era.

Some arrived in New York after learning how to win in San Antonio. Others left New York and found themselves playing meaningful basketball for championship contenders. A handful barely unpacked before moving on.

But every one of them became a small part of both franchises’ histories. And considering how dramatically different those histories have been over the last 30 years, that’s actually pretty remarkable.

Every Player to Play for Both the Knicks and Spurs

• Willie Anderson
• Anthony Bowie
• Shannon Brown
• Jackie Butler
• Anthony Carter
• Len Chappell
• Maurice Cheeks
• Terry Cummings
• Mamadi Diakite
• Howard Fisley
• Sidney Green
• DerMarr Johnson
• Luke Kornet
• Mo Layton
• David Lee
• Brad Lohaus
• Roger Mason
• Doug McDermott
• Antonio McDyess
• Billy McGill
• Tracy McGrady
• Nazr Mohammed
• Pete Myers
• Steve Novak
• J.R. Reid
• Doc Rivers
• Malik Rose
• Charles Smith
• Jeremy Sochan
• Felton Spencer
• Rod Strickland
• Kurt Thomas
• Trent Tucker
• Ime Udoka
• Beno Udrih
• Charlie Ward
• James White
• Monty Williams
• Ray Williams
• David Wingate

The Knicks are giving their fans one of the greatest rides of their lives.

But even in an unforgettable season, it is difficult to remember everything that’s happened over more than seven months of play.

These are some of the top moments from the Knicks’ best season this century:

Knicks hire Mike Brown

The decision to fire Tom Thibodeau — fresh off the Knicks’ first conference finals appearance in 25 years — was controversial. More questions arose when the Knicks whiffed on multiple targets under contract (Jason Kidd, Ime Udoka, Chris Finch, Billy Donovan, Quin Snyder). Then came the announcement of the replacement, Mike Brown, who had won four rings as an assistant, but had been fired four times as a head coach. If you were underwhelmed, you weren’t alone.

Opening night

In a season-opening matchup billed as a potential conference finals preview, the Knicks used a 14-0 fourth-quarter run to power past the Cavaliers for a 119-111 win at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 22. “We won the game and we had some good moments, but we don’t feel like we’re anywhere near what we’re capable of,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “That’s what makes it exciting. Everybody has expectations.”

The first Landry Shamet game

Six months before “The Bounce,” fans at the Garden were chanting “Lan-dry Sha-met,” as the veteran came off the bench to score 30 of his career-high 36 points in the second half of a 140-132 NBA Cup win over the Heat on Nov. 14. With Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby sidelined by injuries, Towns scored 39 points, Jordan Clarkson added 24 and Josh Hart recorded a triple-double.

Knicks win NBA Cup

Brunson was named the NBA Cup MVP, but the 124-113 title game victory over the Spurs in Las Vegas on Dec. 16 wouldn’t have been possible without a unique late-game lineup, featuring Clarkson (15 points), Tyler Kolek (14 points, five rebounds, five assists) and Mitchell Robinson (15 rebounds). “Don’t it look good when it says Knicks champions on the shirt?” Towns said.

Knicks hammer Nets by 54 points to turn the season the season around

Brown had challenged his team to “Lock in and do your f—ing job.” Brunson asked his teammates to “care” more. The Knicks had lost four straight — including double-digit defeats to Sacramento and Dallas — and nine of their previous 11 games before embarrassing Brooklyn in a 120-66 blowout at the Garden on Jan. 21. This marked the largest margin of victory in franchise history and the beginning of an eight-game winning streak.

Knicks beat Denver is 2OT for eighth straight win

The Knicks looked like contenders again in a potential NBA Finals preview, defeating the Nuggets 134-127 in double overtime at the Garden on Feb. 4 to earn their eighth straight win. While three-time MVP Nikola Jokic struggled with his shot down the stretch, Brunson took over late, finishing with 42 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.

Jose Alvarado arrives

The New York City native’s trade from New Orleans put the final touch on a team that’s ceiling was easier to see during his debut in the Knicks’ 111-89 win in Boston on Super Bowl Sunday. Alvarado was as advertised, a sub-6-foot nuisance who brought instant energy off the bench, frustrating Jaylen Brown, and finishing with 12 points, two steals and six deflections in 25 minutes.

The comeback kings

The Knicks returned from the All-Star break and suffered their third blowout loss to the Pistons of the season. Two days later at the Garden, they fought back from an 18-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat Kevin Durant and the Rockets 108-106 as Brunson — who had two points at halftime — went 4-for-4 in the fourth quarter, hitting the game-tying and go-ahead jumpers.

Road warriors

The Knicks began the final week of the regular season with a much-needed reminder of their toughness on the road. Following five straight losses against teams with a winning record, the Knicks rode another clutch Brunson performance to a 108-105 win in Atlanta — which had won 18 of its previous 20 games and hadn’t lost at home in two months — after CJ McCollum’s game-tying heave from half court was ruled to have been released after the buzzer.

Hart test

In Jayson Tatum’s much-anticipated return to the arena where he suffered a torn Achilles, Hart stole the show, making the Celtics pay for repeatedly leaving him open. Hart scored 15 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter, leading the Knicks to a 112-106 win over the Eastern Conference favorites, just over a week before the playoffs began.

First round (Knicks 4, Hawks 2)

After Brunson dribbled into a double-team and threw away the final possession of Game 3, the Knicks were on the verge of crisis, having suffered their second straight one-point loss. Then, Brown began running the offense through Towns, and everything began to click as the Knicks won the final three games of the series by 96 points, including a historic 51-point blowout in the Game 6 clincher in Atlanta.

Eastern Conference semifinals (Knicks 4, 76ers 0)

Instead of a rematch with the Celtics, the Knicks got another swing at Joel Embiid. A 39-point win in Game 1 set the tone for their first playoff sweep in 26 years. Despite losing Anunoby to a hamstring injury in Game 2, the Knicks kept dominating both ends of the floor and enjoyed their fans’ surreal road invasion in Philadelphia, capping the series by tying an NBA postseason record with 25 3-pointers in a Game 4 blowout.

Eastern Conference finals (Knicks 4, Cavaliers 0)

Playing for the first time in nine days, the Knicks finally cooled off in Game 1 of the conference finals and fell behind by 22 points with less than eight minutes left before Brunson led the greatest postseason comeback in franchise history. Hart played the hero in Game 2 and the Knicks closed it out with a 37-point win in Cleveland, celebrating the team’s first conference championship in 27 years.