With the trade deadline passing and the Knicks making a pretty darn good trade, it has us reminiscing on just how bad things used to be in New York. Obviously, it hasn’t always been bad for the Knicks, but I don’t think there are many doubts that it’s been a rough 20 years.
With that in mind, we thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the worst trades in Knicks history to show just how good fans have had it in the last couple of seasons.
These trades are not only some of the worst in history, but should also be considered some of the worst in league history. Not only did New York give up picks that ended up becoming incredible players, but the players they received in return simply didn’t live up to the hype.
Reminiscing on the 3 worst trades in New York Knicks history
Trade #3: Disrespecting Patrick Ewing by sending him away
This trade was just wrong on so many levels. Not only did the Knicks send away arguably the greatest player in franchise history, but they also added more than $90 million in contracts through 2004.
With this deal, the Knicks traded Patrick Ewing on the last year of his contract in return for Glen Rice, Luc Longley, and Travis Knight – three players who did absolutely nothing but eat up cap space during their time in New York.
While the Knicks would also receive a couple of first-round picks, they did just about nothing with these picks, making the deal look even worse. Hindsight is 20/20, but this deal just doesn’t make any sense even outside of the disrespect for Ewing.
As for Ewing himself, even he said he was shocked by the deal, stating:
"I was shocked… I’ve been stunned for two days walking around… I never thought I’d end my career anywhere else."
Honestly, the blatant disrespect for Ewing by the Knicks’ front office at the time is annoying to look back upon. If the front office wanted to get rid of Ewing so badly they could have just waited until the end of the season for his contract to expire. However, they instead opted to trade for bloated contracts that led the team nowhere,
Basketball is a business, I understand that, but looking at all the other franchises that kept their cornerstone players around for their entire careers, even when they weren’t that great, makes the Knicks look dumb.