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70 free New York Knicks trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Knicks trivia quiz runs through eight decades of New York basketball: the 1946 founding at Madison Square Garden, Joe Lapchick's early Finals teams, the Red Holzman championship years with Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley and Earl Monroe, the Ewing-Starks-Oakley wars with the Bulls, Pacers and Heat, Linsanity, Carmelo's 62, and the Jalen Brunson team that finally ended the drought in 2026. There are questions on the players, the coaches, the trades and the rivalries, plus a few on the uniforms, the logos, the retired numbers and the broadcasters who called it all. Easy ones for anyone who watched a game at the Garden, hard ones for the fans who remember who Trent Tucker was. Questions run from easy to expert, and every answer has been checked against a reliable source.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which arena did the Knicks move into in 1968?
Madison Square Garden
The fourth building to carry the name, it opened in 1968 on top of Penn Station and by 2025 was the NBA's oldest arena in use.
Q 02In what year were the Knicks founded as a charter member of the Basketball Association of America?
1946
Alongside the Celtics they are one of only two original teams still playing in their original city; the BAA merged with the NBL to form the NBA three years later.
Q 03The 'Knickerbocker' name traces back to a pen name used by which American writer?
Washington Irving
The name came to describe descendants of the original Dutch settlers and, eventually, New Yorkers in general; the franchise picked it by drawing votes from a hat.
Q 04Which arena president was awarded the New York franchise in 1946?
Ned Irish
Sportswriter Max Kase had hoped to run the team himself, but the arena's rules required the Garden to own any pro team that played there.
Q 05The Knicks played the first game in BAA history on November 1, 1946, against which team?
Toronto Huskies
They won 68-66 at Maple Leaf Gardens in front of 7,090 fans, with Leo Gottlieb scoring 14 points.
Q 06Where did the Knicks hold their first training camp in 1946?
The Catskill Mountains
Twenty-five players spent three weeks at the Nevele Country Club working out twice a day, and the New York natives clicked immediately.
Q 07Who was the Knicks' first full-time head coach, hired from St. John's?
Joe Lapchick
He asked to stay at St. John's one more season, so Neil Cohalan served as interim coach in year one. He then led the team to nine straight playoff trips and three straight Finals.
Q 08Which 5-foot-7 guard, signed in 1947, became the first non-white player in the BAA?
Wataru Misaka
The Japanese-American Utah star played just three games for the Knicks, but the NBA now recognizes him as its first non-white player.
Q 09In 1950 the Knicks became the first pro basketball team to sign an African American player. Who was he?
Nat Clifton
He came from the Harlem Globetrotters, played first base in the Negro leagues, and got his nickname as a boy from his love of soft drinks.
Q 10Wilt Chamberlain scored his record 100 points against the Knicks in 1962 in which town?
Hershey, Pennsylvania
The Warriors won 169-147; the Knicks failed to reach the playoffs at all during coach Eddie Donovan's tenure.
Q 11Before their 2026 title, in which two years had the Knicks won the NBA championship?
1970 and 1973
Both titles came against the Los Angeles Lakers under Red Holzman, with the second won in five games.
Q 12Which coach's 613 victories with the Knicks are honored by a retired 'number' in the rafters?
Red Holzman
He was Coach of the Year in 1970 and one of the few men to win an NBA title as both a player (with Rochester in 1951) and a coach.
Q 13In 1969-70 the Knicks set a then-NBA record by winning how many consecutive games?
18
They finished 60-22, the best record in franchise history at the time, and finished on top of the whole league.
Q 21Bernard King scored 60 points for the Knicks on Christmas Day 1984 against which team?
New Jersey Nets
He had 40 by halftime and led the league in scoring that season, only to shred his knee three months later.
Q 22The Knicks won the very first NBA draft lottery. In what year?
1985
They used the number one pick on Georgetown center Patrick Ewing, who won Rookie of the Year and led all rookies in scoring and rebounding.
Q 23Patrick Ewing is the Knicks' all-time leading scorer with roughly how many points?
23,700
He played 1,039 games for the franchise, and his number 33 was raised to the rafters in 2003.
Q 14Which injured captain limped out for Game 7 of the 1970 Finals and scored the Knicks' first baskets?
Willis Reed
He went scoreless afterwards, but the moment is one of the most famous in NBA history; that season he became the first player to win All-Star Game MVP, regular season MVP and Finals MVP.
Q 15Which guard posted 36 points and 19 assists in Game 7 of the 1970 Finals?
Walt Frazier
He added seven rebounds and six steals in a game ESPN has called one of the best Game 7s ever played.
Q 16Which actor's on-screen fedora inspired the 'Clyde' nickname of the Knicks' Hall of Fame point guard?
Warren Beatty
The hat resembled the one worn as Clyde Barrow in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde; the nickname stuck for life and followed him into the broadcast booth.
Q 17Knicks forward Bill Bradley later spent 18 years as a United States senator representing which state?
New Jersey
The Princeton graduate and Rhodes Scholar played his whole career for the Knicks, then ran for president in 2000.
Q 18Which guard nicknamed 'The Pearl' arrived from Baltimore in 1971 and formed the 'Rolls-Royce backcourt'?
Earl Monroe
A Winston-Salem sportswriter had called his baskets 'Earl's pearls'; both the Bullets and the Knicks retired his number.
Q 19Championship forward Dave DeBusschere also pitched in the major leagues for which team?
Chicago White Sox
He threw a shutout against Cleveland in 1963, and at 24 became the youngest coach in NBA history as the Pistons' player-coach.
Q 20Which future 11-time championship coach was a bench player and defensive specialist for the 1970s Knicks?
Phil Jackson
He credited Red Holzman as a major influence, and returned to run the front office from 2014 to 2017 with far less success.
Q 24Which franchise record, set by the team's Hall of Fame point guard in the 1970s, did Ewing never break?
Career assists
His total of 4,791 still stands; Ewing eventually passed his marks for games, minutes, field goals and points.
Q 25Which point guard, drafted in 1987, won Rookie of the Year for the Knicks?
Mark Jackson
He arrived alongside new coach Rick Pitino and even drew MVP consideration as the Knicks returned to the playoffs.
Q 26Rick Pitino stunned New York in 1989 by leaving the Knicks to coach which college?
Kentucky
His 32-year-old assistant Stu Jackson took over as the youngest head coach in the league.
Q 27What was Pat Riley doing when the Knicks hired him in May 1991?
Working as an NBC commentator
He installed a rough, defense-first style built around Ewing and John Starks that defined the decade.
Q 28John Starks' famous 1993 left-handed 'Dunk' came over Horace Grant and which superstar?
Michael Jordan
He was undrafted and had played at four Oklahoma colleges; the Knicks still lost the series after leading 2-0.
Q 29Who beat the Knicks in seven games in the 1994 NBA Finals?
Houston Rockets
John Starks shot 2-for-18 in Game 7, and the loss cost New York a Rangers-and-Knicks championship double in the same spring.
Q 30In 1994-95 John Starks became the first NBA player to make how many three-pointers in a single season?
200
His 217 broke a professional record dating to the ABA in 1969, and he remains the Knicks' career leader in threes.