Patrick Ewing is returning to coaching after serving as an ambassador for the Knicks the last two seasons.
The legendary forward who remains one of the greatest Knicks players ever — present throughout their recent championship run and parade, too — has joined the Wizards staff as an assistant coach, according to a Saturday ESPN report.
Ewing previously served as the head coach for Georgetown — his alma mater — from 2017-23, leading the Hoyas to a Big East Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021 before winning 13 games combined across the next two seasons and getting fired.
Then, in October 2024, Ewing returned to the Knicks as a “basketball ambassador assisting both basketball and business operations,” according to a team announcement at the time.
“As I said the day my number 33 lifted in the rafters at MSG, I will always be a Knick and I will always be a New Yorker,” Ewing said in a statement at the time. “I can’t wait to get started in this new position and to officially be back with the organization that I love so much.”
That meant Ewing became a central figure again more than two decades after his 15-year tenure in New York City ended with 11 All-Star Game nods and plenty of playoff heartbreak.
In his two years back with the Knicks, they advanced to the Eastern Conference finals before falling to the Pacers and then won the championship — with their recent run to the title fueled by a 13-game winning streak.
Before the Finals series against the Spurs began, Ewing told The Post’s Steve Serby that he felt “like I’m a part of it” because of the Knicks ensuring that former players are back.
“What I would tell them is they have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Ewing, who fell short in the 1994 and 1999 NBA Finals, told Serby about what his message would be to the Knicks before the ultimate series. “No one knows if it’s going to come back around. When we got there in ’94, I definitely thought that we were going to have another opportunity in ’95 — take advantage of this opportunity.”
And now, Ewing will return to coaching with a Wizards team that only won 17 games last season en route to landing the No. 1 overall pick — selecting BYU’s AJ Dybantsa — but has plenty of talent to work with.
