It was fitting that this was the summer in which Amar’e Stoudemire became a Hall of Famer.
For a generation of younger fans, he was the first star who made the Knicks relevant again after years of anguish. He was officially inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday night in Springfield, Mass., just more than two months after the Knicks won the championship.
At the moment, the Knicks are as relevant as ever. In many ways, the championship and Stoudemire’s induction completed the long-term journey that he started.
“New York, the Garden, there’s nothing like it,” Stoudemire said in his speech. “When you hear MVP chants every night, they’re chanting your name, the arena is rocking, New York is the No. 1 place to play. And I know that as a player. But before I got there, no one else wanted to go to New York. So that’s why I was like, ‘The Knicks are back, and we’re gonna do this.’ It was good to see those guys win the championship this year.”
As a 27-year-old superstar in his prime, Stoudemire signed with the Knicks in 2010 — after the Knicks had just gone 29-53. That same offseason, LeBron James and Chris Bosh went to the Heat.
At the time, stars were avoiding the Knicks and their dysfunction. But Stoudemire, after emerging as one of the league’s best bigs with the Suns, embraced it.
“You walked into the Garden when nobody else would,” Carmelo Anthony said in a tribute video posted by the Knicks, “and told the whole league the Knicks was back.”
Stoudemire spent four-plus seasons with the Knicks, who made the playoffs his first three seasons with the team — after the franchise had reached the postseason just twice the previous 10 years. During his first year with the team, he was named to the All-NBA Second Team and set a franchise record by scoring 30 or more points in nine straight games.
The Knicks traded for Anthony midway through Stoudemire’s first season with the team. The two led the Knicks to the second round in the 2012-13 season, but never quite reached the massive expectations for the duo. Stoudemire was plagued by knee injuries, which cut his prime short.
Stoudemire was a six-time All-Star and rookie of the year. He made All-NBA First Team once and the Second Team four times.
There was another lull for the franchise after Stoudemire and Anthony’s Knicks tenures were over, but they are now the place to be for stars.
“I wanted to bring players to New York to experience what I experienced in the city,” Stoudemire said. “We were able to bring in Carmelo and I think the energy of having me there showed the rest of the league, hey, New York can be a destination place.”
It’s poetic that Stoudemire was enshrined in the same class as Mike D’Antoni, who coached him with both the Suns and Knicks.
D’Antoni spent four seasons with the Knicks, leading them to a playoff berth in 2010-11 — their first since 2003-04.
“New York’s a special place,” D’Antoni said Saturday.
Doc Rivers, Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne, Chamique Holdsclaw, Mark Few and Joey Crawford were the other inductees in this year’s class.
As the Knicks continue to celebrate their championship, two important figures who helped put them back on the map are now enshrined in immortality.
