Perhaps nobody knows more about the Knicks than Clyde Frazier, who gave an honest assessment about the team’s current starting five.
New York basketball fans have been waiting a long time to see their beloved Knicks conquer the NBA and win another Larry O’Brien trophy.
It’s been almost 52 years, to be exact. Since then, outside of two runs to the NBA Finals in 1994 and 1999, the Knicks have been mostly a disappointment. Last year’s playoff run, although successful, ended with a dud. The injury-plagued Knicks succumbed to the Indiana Pacers in seven games.
Fast-forward five months, and the Knicks have begun the 2024-25 season with a motivated Jalen Bruson and a new-look team that now features four-time NBA All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns. Rounding out the starting five is Mikal Bridges, who the Knicks acquired in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets in July, O.G. Anunoby, the tenacious 3-and-D wing who came over from Toronto last winter, and fan-favorite Josh Hart, whose energy and motor rivals that of the Energizer Bunny.
Since Towns came to New York from Minnesota on Sept. 27, Knick fans have had plenty of optimism —so much so that according to broadcaster Michelle Beadle, some Knicks fans have labeled this starting five as possibly the “best ever” in Knicks franchise history.
But nobody knows more about the Knicks and their history than Walt “Clyde” Frazier, who not only played point guard on the 1970 and 1973 championship teams, but has also been the color commentator for the team’s broadcasts for the past quarter-century.
So while sitting alongside Beadle, Chandler Parsons, and Lou Williams on a recent episode of “Run It Back” on FanDuel TV, Frazier had a simple answer when asked if this year’s starting five is indeed the best:
“Bullshit,” Frazier said with a chuckle in front of a live audience at the famed Gaucho’s Gym in the South Bronx.
“There’s the best starting five (while pointing to his championship ring).”
Led by Hall-of-Fame coach Red Holzman, the 1970 team featured a starting lineup of Frazier, shooting guard Dick Barnett, small forward Bill Bradley, power forward Dave DeBusschere, and center Willis Reed. That’s four Hall of Famers in the starting lineup, sans Barnett.
Those same five players helped the Knicks win the title again in 1973, although Earl Monroe replaced Barnett in the starting lineup by then. Barnett, as did the now legendary coach Phil Jackson, came off the bench.
51 years later, this iteration of the Knicks has a long way to go to match that pedigree, as the current starting lineup does not even have one surefire, first-ballot Hall of Famer, let alone four. Sure, Jalen Brunson has been spectacular since arriving in New York in the summer of 2022, but he still needs to play at a high level for the next few years to make it to Springfield, Massachusetts. He has proven that he can do so already, but now the question of longevity — and keeping the Knicks as a perennial contender like they were in the early 1970s — hangs over Brunson.
Nevertheless, Frazier feels optimistic about the 2024-25 Knicks, even though the team traded away one of his favorite players, Julius Randle, as a part of the Anthony-Towns deal.
“Actually, I liked [Julius] Randle. I thought he would come back with a vengeance. He had a lot to prove. Like [Towns] said, I was ‘flabbergasted’ by the trade. But since [KAT] got here, we improved with a guy who can open up the court. He should help [Jalen] Brunson,” Frazier added on the show.
“Our bench is a question mark, though. We lost [Donte DiVincenzo], one of the better 3-point shooters [in the trade]. So this is something that I think—it’s an opportunity for [Deuce McBride] and for [Cameron Payne] to come off the bench, step up, and make a difference. But now already, as I have said, if we can stay healthy, I like our chances against anybody. And Precious [Achiuwa] is already out. But overall, I am very optimistic and hopeful that the Knicks can get back to our former grandeur and win another championship.”
Unfortunately for Randle, he suffered a dislocated shoulder in a game on Jan. 27, 2024. It turned out to be season-ending, and he never played for the Knicks again. He also became a polarizing figure during his tenure in New York for various reasons. Recently, it was because the Knicks clinched the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference while Randle watched from the sideline. Many felt that President Leon Rose and company should deal him away, while others argued in favor of his presence. The latter included Frazier, of course.
“You know it was unprecedented. I have never seen that before, because Knick fans are the best — the most knowledgeable, the most supportive,” Frazier said of Randle’s polarized status in New York.
“I think what turned them off against Randle was when he gave them the finger once or something, which alienated half [of the fanbase]. They never forgave him for that, while the other half did. He was never the guy like Bernard [King] or any normal superstar who plays with the Knicks who got that adulation. I am now happy to see that, now that [Randle] has been traded, [those fans] are talking about what he did do for the team. He was an All-Star, All-NBA player. He brought some stability to the franchise before he left.”
In the five seasons before Randle arrived in New York, the Knicks posted a cumulative record of 126-284 — a 0.307 winning percentage — which was bookended by abysmal 17-65 campaigns in 2014-15 and 2018-19. Knicks fans sat in a pit of misery, a dark cellar that not even the NBA Draft Lottery could save them. Yes, the Knicks also missed out on the Zion Williamson sweepstakes in 2019, settling for R.J. Barrett with the third overall pick instead.
But as Frazier said, Randle gave them stability, and now, through Brunson, the Knicks have become a contender once again.
Despite that, these Knicks still have a long way to go before they can even be considered for greatest Knicks starting five ever. They must win a title first and foremost, and to do so, they’d have to go through the defending champion Boston Celtics, who looked as formidable as ever in their 132-109 drubbing of New York on opening night.
The Knicks have a long season left to close the gap between them and Boston, but for now, it certainly made Frazier’s pregame “bullshit” call on their credentials as the best New York starters yet look prescient.
