Julius Randle tells us how Knicks fans are the best in the NBA

What it means to be a New York Knicks fan

New York is a huge place. It’s big enough that there need to be multiple professional sports teams repping the same city. The Yankees and Mets, Giants and Jets, Rangers and Islanders – While every one of these franchises seem to have a “Big brother/little brother” relationship, even the little brothers are firmly rooted in the history of the city. They’re all incredibly passionate fanbases. When it comes to the game of basketball, it’s Knicks or nothing.

Being from the city, I can attest to the fact that everyone plays basketball growing up. Whether you were good at ball didn’t matter: No New Yorker hasn’t spent a large part of their childhood playing for hours at the park on a net-less hoop, hands covered in dirt, chilling on the courts until the sun goes down.

The city of New York and the game of basketball are attached at the hip, and that love of the game is sewed into the fabric of being a Knicks fan. Knicks fandom can come in the form of raging expletives, irrational optimism, jaded pessimism, self-deprecating humor, group chats with your friends, and conversations at the deli counter.

At the end of the day, it’s called unconditional love for your team. Rooting for the Knicks is synonymous with being a New York sports fan. The majority of my childhood was spent rooting for the Isaiah Thomas’ era Knicks. It doesn’t matter how ugly it got – I’m a New Yorker, I’m a Knicks fan.

There’s a reason the basketball world feels the need to talk about the Knicks, even when they’re losing. There’s a reason it’s called the “Mecca” of basketball. It comes from the energy and love that New Yorkers have for the game and for their team.

You’ll often hear the Knicks referred to as a “Sleeping Giant” in the sports world. Well, maybe that sleeping giant is starting to wake up, stretch its limbs, and unleash its wrath on the rest of the league.

As Julius Randle said to his Knick teammates,  “Get New York popping?? Get the Garden popping?? Y’all don’t even know.”