New York City is due for another ticker-tape parade.
When the American Football League New York Jets stunned professional football in January 1969 by defeating the National Football League’s Baltimore Colts to claim victory in Super Bowl III, the “Broadway” Joe Namath-led team didn’t get a ticker-tape parade in lower Manhattan, and 57 football seasons later, there has still been no Jets parade.
Remember how Chicago Cubs’ fans celebrated at the conclusion of the 2016 World Series? After a 108-season wait, the National League club on Chicago’s North Side drew an estimated five million revelers to a celebration at Grant Park. Now imagine the celebration if, after 53 NBA seasons since the New York Knickerbockers last were champions, this streak should end.
The Knicks of 1972–1973 were a thing of basketball beauty, but for most NBA fans of this generation, the team is a mere collection of statistical memories. In winning the NBA title in May 1973 by downing the Los Angeles Lakers in five games, New York basketball fans were spoiled by a roster that would see eight players inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Red Holzman, the Knicks’ coach for both championship squads of 1970 and 1973, would also add Hall of Famer to his career resume.
Inside Madison Square Garden, the many banners hanging on the arena’s rafters announce the Knicks’ greatness across the franchise’s 79 seasons. Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, and Earl Monroe lead the list of players who have had their uniform numbers retired. The banners signifying NBA champions are front and center for Knicks’ fans of all ages to appreciate. At 22–9 this season, New York sits in first place of the Atlantic Division and is only two games behind the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons. The Knicks are on a roll.
On Christmas Day, trailing the Donovan Mitchell-led Cleveland Cavaliers by 13 points with less than eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Knicks refused to fold. Backup point guard Tyler Kolek, a 2023 second-round draft pick, pumped in 16 points and added 9 assists to his day’s work.
Saturday’s game on the road with the Atlanta Hawks saw New York’s winning ways continue. A 128–125 Knicks victory saw Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson lead New York’s scoring attack.
On Monday, the Knicks’ traveling road show stops next in New Orleans for a game with the 8–25 Pelicans.
Having claimed the Emirates NBA Cup championship just two weeks ago, and being the third team to do so since the tournament’s inception in 2023, the Knicks are making people believe they are positioned to go deep into the postseason. The $530,933 individual players’ share distributed for winning the NBA Cup comes alongside a win that offers Knicks’ fans real hope for what—fingers crossed—may be yet to come this spring.
Last season, New York came closer to championship contention than it has in decades by reaching the Eastern Conference Finals, before losing to the Indiana Pacers in six games last May. So far in this season’s first half, the Knicks are playing at a level that proves last year’s victories were no fluke.
A new generation of New York basketball heroes is in the making. Mike Brown, in his first season as Knicks’ coach, experienced the NBA championship feeling prior to his coming to New York. Four times as an assistant coach, Brown’s teams brought him championship rings. Along with Towns and Brunson, Brown is banking on Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and one dozen other players this season, so far, to keep the winning going in Manhattan.
Given that MLB’s New York Yankees and Mets have been recipients of multiple ticker-tape parades, a Knicks’ championship party would promise to be one not soon forgotten. As big as the National Football League and National Hockey League are with New York sports fans, Basketball is often considered the city’s game. It’s basketball that is played in all of New York’s five boroughs schoolyards and gymnasiums. Current Knicks’ television broadcaster Walt “Clyde” Frazier Jr., a member of both 1970s Knicks championship teams and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, remains a sports legend of the highest degree in New York City. Being a basketball hero has a long lifespan among New Yorkers.
The New York Liberty captured the WNBA championship in 2024, and the team was afforded a ticker-tape parade that extended from Battery Park to City Hall. The turnout by well-wishers was minimal: an estimated 80,000 people.
A Knicks NBA championship parade could easily be 10 times larger. Basketball fans in the Big Apple are cautiously optimistic that their dream of adding a third championship to the Knicks’ franchise history may become a reality come May. New York is long overdue for a basketball celebration of epic proportion. NBA Cup aside, for Knicks fans, it’s a league championship they crave. A midseason trophy, for now, will hold them over.
