Patrick Ewing says his only regret from a Hall of Fame career was leaving New York when he did, after 15 years as the face of the Knicks. He said he had grown tired and worn down by the constant criticism and finally asked out in the 2000 offseason.
Ewing said Seattle made the Knicks a great offer, and New York traded him in a four-team blockbuster that sent Glen Rice, Luc Longley, Travis Knight, Vladimir Stepania, Lazaro Borrell, Vernon Maxwell and four draft picks back to the team. The deal closed the run of a player who left as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer with 23,665 points, an 11-time All-Star and seven-time All-NBA selection.
For a player who helped turn the Knicks into a 1990s powerhouse, the regret is not hard to understand. Ewing reached two NBA Finals with New York but never won a title, and he said he has looked at peers such as Karl Malone and John Stockton, who stayed with one team through the end, and wondered what might have been different if he had done the same.
The friction that pushed him out is what gives the story its edge now. Ewing said he was tired of hearing the same criticism after 15 years, a reminder that the parting was not just about basketball and not just about a trade. It was about a veteran star worn down by the environment around him, even as the numbers said he had given the Knicks everything he had.
Ewing played one season in Seattle, finishing with a 44-37 record, 79 starts, 9.6 points per game, 7.4 rebounds per game and 43.0 percent shooting in just under 27 minutes a night before moving on to the Orlando Magic for a 65-game farewell tour. He retired after 17 seasons with career averages of 21.0 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks, and added two Olympic gold medals and an NCAA title to a resume that already made him one of the defining big men of his era.