Just in case you thought this incredible season of basketball for the New York Knicks can’t get better, it does. Patrick Ewing, John Starks, and Allan Houston work in front office positions that make them eligible to receive championship rings. It will be a moment of closure for three of New York’s finest.
Watching the Knicks win the NBA Championship this season may have been one of the greatest moments in NBA history. After a 53 year long drought, the Knicks won the NBA Cup, the Eastern Conference Championship, and the NBA Championship all in one season. That’s a lot of banners.
New York has come together to celebrate in a way not seen in decades. The positive vibes coming off a city caught up in Knicks fever, the World Cup, the National Puerto Rican Day Parade, and Pride at the same time are incredibly infectious. It’s hard not to be excited for the city that never sleeps.
Well, the good thing is about to get even better. Three of the greatest Knicks of all time to never get a ring will finally cross that bridge with this championship win. And it’s all because Ewing, Starks, and Houston have continued to be part of the Knicks organization after their playing days came to an end.
A big moment in Knicks history keeps getting bigger
Ewing played the majority of his career in the NBA with the Knicks from 1985 until 2000, finally retiring in 2002. Starks rode with Ewing for a large chunk of that time. He joined the Knicks in 1990 and was there until 1998. Houston retired a Knick in 2005 after joining the team in 1998.
None of them won an NBA Championship in their playing careers, let alone with the Knicks. Ewing and Houston came close in 1999 during the lockout-shortened season. Ironically, the Knicks were beaten by the Spurs in the finals. A partially torn Achilles tendon prevented Ewing from playing in the finals.
Houston is eligible for a 2026 ring because he is a special assistant to the general manager. Ewing and Starks also hold official front office positions that make them eligible. Starks is an alumni relations and fan development advisor, while Ewing serves as a basketball ambassador.
The reality is that Ewing and Starks had the misfortune of playing during the era of Michael Jordan’s Bulls and are part of a group of NBA icons who never got a chip in part because of that. But the 2026 Knicks victory will give these legends the rings that will cap off their respective careers.