It’s a family story for New York Knicks fans: the superstar player wants to switch teams, the superstar player wants to go to the Knicks, the superstar player ends up playing elsewhere. Rinse and repeat.
On the tenth anniversary of LeBron James’ infamous decision to “bring his talents to South Beach”, Knicks fans were tormented by remembering that his first choice would be to come to New York.
Most recently, all NBA reporters told Knicks fans in the sun that Kevin Durant would call Madison Square Garden home this season, only to see those dreams vanish in the nearby Brooklyn air.
While the NBA Hot Stove has become his business, turning the rumors into bigger (or bigger) stories from the real game in recent years, the process by which Knicks has been made fun of by superstar players is nothing new.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wanted to play for the Knicks.
In fact, in 1975, when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar changed the league’s entire landscape by moving from Milwaukee to Los Angeles, the center of the Hall of Fame dreamed of playing for the Knicks.
It’s a family story for New York Knicks fans: the superstar player wants to switch teams, the superstar player wants to go to the Knicks, the superstar player ends up playing elsewhere. Rinse and repeat.
On the tenth anniversary of LeBron James’ infamous decision to “bring his talents to South Beach”, Knicks fans were tormented by remembering that his first choice would be to come to New York.
Of course not. And the rest is history.
Most recently, all NBA reporters told Knicks fans in the sun that Kevin Durant would call Madison Square Garden home this season, only to see those dreams vanish in the nearby Brooklyn air.
While the NBA Hot Stove has become his business, turning the rumors into bigger (or bigger) stories from the real game in recent years, the process by which Knicks has been made fun of by superstar players is nothing new.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wanted to play for the Knicks.
In fact, in 1975, when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar changed the league’s entire landscape by moving from Milwaukee to Los Angeles, the center of the Hall of Fame dreamed of playing for the Knicks.
“I wanted to go to New York and play in New York,” said Abdul-Jabbar during the press conference following the trade in Los Angeles (H / T Essentially Sports). “It has been a dream of mine since I started playing basketball: playing with the Knickerbockers.”
Jabbar asked to be traded with Knicks or Lakers after the 1974-75 season in Milwaukee. According to Jabbar, the Knicks never made the right moves to catch him.
“I had a strong desire to go home [with the Knicks],” said Abdul-Jabbar. “But the Lakers made a sincere effort to catch me, and this was not the case in New York. I don’t think it’s smart to go around with people who don’t really want you. “
The Knicks believe they have done due diligence to acquire Jabbar, although a source told the New York Times at the time that New York could have acquired it for $ 4 million in cash with no other players involved. The Lakers ended up sending two reservations (Elmore Smith and Brian Winters) along with two important choices in the 1975 draft (Dave Meyers and Junior Bridgeman) to the Bucks.
“If it involved money,” a Knicks spokesman told the New York Times following the trade. “We would have been in better shape. But we didn’t have a 7-foot center, nor two young projects like Meyers and Bridgeman. We are disappointed. “
Jabbar would later attempt to return to New York in 1981, when he asked the Lakers to exchange it for the Knicks or the Nets, but obviously an agreement never materialized.