The 2025 playoffs are chock full of Knicks — current and former

Family is forever, so before we open the next chapter of Knicks/Celtics a check-in on every ex-Knick in these playoffs

As Knicks fans endure the long march over the endless country that is the weekend between one playoff series and the next, many sites, scribes and scrubs are stirring up the usual gruel: positional matchups, series predictions, blah blah blah blah blah. Instead of looking forwards or backwards, let us glance sidewards, and consider the playoffs to date – namely, its Knicks ex machina, i.e. the 11 former Knicks involved. 

Please note: by “former Knicks” I don’t mean Landry Shamet or Precious Achiuwa, current Knicks who’ve disappeared from the rotation. And we’re only talking active players, so head coaches Rick Carlisle, Doc Rivers and Ime Udoka – all former Knicks – don’t make the list either. Some of these names are more likely on your brain’s back burners, or buried in that one junk drawer in the kitchen where menus, scotch tape and rubber bands squat, but as the Dick Barnetts of this world continue checking in to that big 5-on-5 game up in the sky, new old Knicks will be needed to someday sit courtside by James Dolan and act like this friend. Without further ado:    

DeAndre Jordan

Acquired as an expiring salary in the Kristaps Porziņģis trade, Jordan played just 19 games for New York when the fan base was still in collective shock, so if you don’t remember him much you’re not alone. I always remember Jordan for a two-game stretch late that year when he dished out 16 assists. You may recall the front end of that pairing, when Super Mario stomped LeBron like a Goombah.

One of the secret pleasures of a lost season of putrid basketball is the delight in discovering veteran players who can do things they’re not asked to on better rosters. Not ironically, but simply coincidentally, Jordan now backs up the greatest passing center many have ever seen in Denver. DAJ didn’t play a ton in the Nuggets seven-game series with the Clippers – just 34 minutes – but the one-time citizen of Lob City got to visit Los Angeles three times, a place he lived and worked for years. I bet he got to re-visit a bunch of his favorite places to eat. I bet that made him happy. I like the thought of DeAndre Jordan dining and smiling.

Kevin Knox

Golden State was down 27 at the half of Game 5 in Houston, and that was bad news for everyone on the Warriors except Kevin Knox. The early and extended blowout (the lead was still 27 after the third quarter) meant Son of Kevin played 18 minutes, a playoff career-high, his most in any game since he was a Piston and the first time in six career playoff games he played more than five minutes. Knox’s teams are 0-6 in those games. Chin up, Kev. 

Bobby Portis

Y2K was a pretty big talking point as 1999 naively took the hand of a new century. It didn’t really seem to amount to much, though don’t tell Hollywood they can’t squeeze blood from a stone that never actually existed. The 2019 Knick offseason was similar. There was a lot of agita over them signing Julius Randle, Bobby Portis and Marcus Morris; lotta cracks about “how many power forwards does one team need?” Funnily enough, that was never actually the case. Randle played 95% of his minutes at the 4 (and became a three-time All-NBA honoree), Portis split his between there and center (eventually becoming an integral part of the Bucks’ championship team) and Morris spent 85% of his time at the 3-spot (he led the league in accuracy until the Knicks traded him at the deadline for the pick that became Immanuel Quickley). I’m not waiting for history to apologize, but it’s always healthy to be reminded how wrong most people often are – about everything. 

This year the Bucks were eliminated in five games, most of which were without Damian Lillard. Someone had to step up, and while it was never nearly enough Portis was Milwaukee’s third-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, peaking with a 28-point, 12-rebound effort in Game 2. The 6-foot-10, 250-pound big man took 28 3-point shots in the series and but one free throw. Which he missed. 

I once had a friend who was very dear to me but who could be staggeringly selfish. He came to visit once when I was a poor grad student. We partied long into the night, after which he had to wake up early to hit the road. Hours after he left I woke, stumbled lazily, hazily into my kitchen and soon felt whatever feeling agrarian-age humans did when they came out to their fields only to realize they’d been hit by a swarm of locusts. Literally half my food was gone. My friend had killed half the kitchen. I was actually okay with it, at that point, mostly just amused at how crazy the munchies can get. But then I opened my freezer and roared with rage.

In my freezer there’d been one lone, precious Friendlys Reeses Pieces ice cream cup. My favorite dessert of this life. Had my friend eaten it? Yes, but no. He literally ate half of it, with his mouth and his germs all over one of my spoons, THEN PUT IT BACK HALF-EATEN IN MY FREEZER. 

I texted him and said he might as well have left an extended middle finger for me instead. If you’re gonna be absurd, go all the way. Nothing is more absurd than half-assing it. Bobby Portis is nearly 7 feet tall, played 31 minutes a game against the Pacers – including a 44-minute overtime contest in what was their last stand – and took one freaking free throw. His teammate and another former Knick, Jericho Sims, is just as tall, as dangerous with the ball as a cow would be, played 100 fewer minutes in the series than Portis and he took more free throws.

Then again, Portis makes $13 million next year and I very much do not. Perhaps we could all stand to be a little more like him, absurd as that may be.

Alec Burks 

Excluding their meaningless season finale, the Heat started Burks their last 10 games and won seven, with AB putting up a couple 20-plus point outputs. Most of those games he started both halves, then didn’t play much after, if at all. Then the playoffs started, and something happened that I haven’t been able to find an explanation for anywhere.

Burks started both halves in Game 1 in Cleveland. He made a couple of threes. Then, with a little under four minutes left in the third, he was replaced by Haywood Highsmith, and that was it – Burks never saw the floor again. He wasn’t injured. Can’t blame analytics: the Heat were -1 in the 15 minutes Burks played and -121 the rest of the way. I watched his exit interview with the Miami media – nothing but smiles and the familiar Burksian chill. He even said he hoped to re-sign with the Heat in free agency this summer.

So what’s with the South Beach banishment? The Heat were embarrassed by the Cavs – what was the point in pulling Burks for doing what he always does? Or blacklisting him from a ground zero that was rapidly degrading into a radioactive crater? I’m pro’ly not hard-working, conditioned, professional, unselfish, tough, mean or nasty enough to get it.        

Jericho Sims

Sims saw limited minutes in Milwaukee’s five-game loss. There’s not much else to say. I imagine he has a big beautiful dog who loves him very much. Maybe two.

Luke Kornet

I just learned this and was floored: Luke Kornet took three 3-pointers this season. Kornet played 73 games, set a career-high in minutes – even more than that other tall former Knick he’s teammates with in Boston – and took THREE THREES! Kornet took more than that in a single game 36 times as a Knick! Be prepared for Kornet to stifle Josh Hart the next few weeks; one of the least encouraging recurrences of the teams’ season series was how often a Knick would try something that worked 95% of the time against 95% of the league, only for Kornet or KP or Al Horford to snuff it out. When I wrote for P&T, Kornet’s mom was a loyal reader. She seemed like a nice person. Hope your son plays out of his mind while his team falls in four, Mama Kornet. 

Obi Toppin

Obi has been pretty similar to Obi when he was here: pace, ball movement and energy to burn, not to mention a solid 3-point shot. He’s a pretty efficient little shot of offense who is what he is but also isn’t what he isn’t, which is why he’s still a reserve. Toppin’s a useful player in a lotta ways, but a pretty specific one, too. I know there’s still an Obi hive somewhere out there, convinced if some team would just give him a starting spot and 30-plus minutes a night he’d be putting up All-Star numbers. There are also people who believe 500 years of legal slavery and apartheid was more than made up for by a half-century of some legislation. For me, Obi’s what he’s always been: I appreciate the beauty and joy he brings to my eyes, and I leave it at that.    

Isaiah Hartenstein

Weird iHart stat: in 97 minutes against the Grizzlies, he blocked one shot. DeAndre Jordan, 10 years older and having played 60 fewer minutes in his series, blocked just as many. Though it’s not like the Thunder seem very concerned about Hartenstein’s blocks. Or his defense. Or theirs. Or anything, really. That’s why I’m so curious to see them reach the Finals. 

The 1989 Lakers, the two-time defending champs, swept all three Western series en route to their eighth Finals in 10 years – talk about living on Easy Street. They entered the Finals having won 11 series in a row over three years, and 17 of 18 over five. Pistons didn’t care. Pistons swept ‘em.

These Thunder have won one playoff series together, against a Zion-less Pelicans miscarriage. They rolled through this season with virtually no outside pressure; all they heard all year was how awesome and terrifying and incredibly ahead of the curve they are. I can’t prove this, but I’m positive if Hartenstein finishes the next series against the Nuggets with but one block, the Thunder will have lost and a lot, of those hands that have been patting them on the back will come back with knives out. 

Donte DiVincenzo

Donte DiVincenzo shot 30% from the floor and 19% from deep as the Wolves toppled the Lakers. He also had about twice as many assists as turnovers, had a positive plus/minus in four of the games and played more minutes out of their backcourt than anyone not named Anthony Edwards. We know Donte. The numbers never tell even half his story. And he’s one of the only dudes I know who can be shooting 19% from distance in a series and yet as he’ll line up a look like like and you know it’s pure.

Kristaps Porziņģis

After the All-Star break, the Celtics had 26 games left. KP played 13, missed 13. Half the time he plays he plays 30-plus minutes, but half he don’t. Against Orlando he scored five points, then 20; seven, then 19; finally nine in the clincher. He drained a couple of threes in the pivotal Game 4 win, only to miss the other 13 he took in the series. KP remains, as always, whatever you wish him to be, his only constant the absence thereof. Do I think he’ll survive the rest of Boston’s postseason? No chance. Will he play every game against the Knicks? Maybe not. Will he hit an absolute killer three at some point, the one that ends up clinching the series? I don’t wanna talk about it.    

Julius Randle

The counting numbers (23 points/five rebounds/five dimes per game)! The shooting splits (48% from the field, 39% from deep)! Nearly twice as many assists as turnovers! Second on his team in scoring and threes, tied for the lead in free throws attempted and Minnesota’s leader in free throws made!

I don’t have a ton to add that I haven’t spent much of the past year saying. I’ll keep the summary short and sweet, because this piece is already twice as long as I thought it’d be, but more so because this is worth remembering, for you and for anyone you deal with for the rest of your life. And it applies to any life situation you can think of. It’s simple. 

If someone who’s usually incredible at something suddenly looks completely and utterly off their game – just a straight-up 180 – there’s probably something troubling them. 

You could publish an entire DSM-6 just from all the half-baked crackpot theories and armchair analyses that people put forth trying to explain why Randle — on a shit ankle — struggled against Evan Mobley and 2023 Cavs, who had the league’s top-rated defense. Or why one round later on an even shittier ankle he had problems with Bam Adebayo and the Heat’s ninth-rated defense. Not every patient needs a prescription for an unwanted trade to the frozen north of the country, but Randle’s taken his medicine and just dealt plenty of pain to the Lakers in a series he spent much of matched against two of the literal legends of the game.

Maybe someone you value hasn’t been themselves for a while. Maybe you don’t like it. Fair. But not the point. Better to give them the benefit of the doubt. If they’ve curdled like milk, there won’t be any mistaking that. But more often, whether it’s scale be Leviathan or Lilliputian, there’s pro’ly something rotten in their own private Denmark. Maybe instead of judging them, reach out. Or just keep your mouth shut and your thoughts to themselves, and enjoy one more day of former Knicks as the opening act. The big show starts soon enough.