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Who Really Wore It Best? Bernard King vs. Jeremy Lin

The King vs. Linsanity

First things first, it’s time to take jersey numbers out of the equation; they’ve become irrelevant. From here on out, it’s simply about one thing: “Who wore the orange and blue best?” No surprise, Jalen Brunson ran through Marcus Camby, and now he moves on to face Larry Johnson in the next round.

This week’s matchup should be a bit more exciting, with Bernard King squaring off against Jeremy Lin. Still, I have a feeling I know which way this one’s going to go. Many fans see King as one of the greatest Knicks ever, and the fact that his number isn’t hanging in the rafters is nothing short of a crime. On the flip side, Jeremy Lin delivered arguably the most electrifying two-week stretch in franchise history, a run so iconic it’s been immortalized in documentaries and books ever since.

We skipped over the Bernard King / Malik Rose matchup in round one because, quite frankly, why waste the P&T readers' time, or website space?

For the sake of debate, Lin deserves his shot at taking down the King.

Bernard King — Bernard King brought his scoring flair to the Knicks in 1982 after bouncing around three teams in his first five NBA seasons. Drafted 7th overall by the New York Nets in 1977, King wasted no time making noise. He racked up a franchise record 1,909 points as a rookie, earning a spot on the NBA All-Rookie First Team. Although he didn’t snag Rookie of the Year honors, those went to Walter Davis and Marques Johnson, King’s impact was impossible to ignore.

Just before the 1982-83 season tipped off, the Golden State Warriors sent King to New York in exchange for Michael Ray Richardson. Once he slipped on a Knicks jersey, King lit up the Garden, averaging a scorching 26.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game from 1982 to 1987. With Patrick Ewing yet to arrive, King became the undisputed face of the franchise, and he earned back-to-back All-Star nods in 1984 and 1985 to prove it.

Photo by NBA Photos/NBAE via Getty Images

In early 1984, Bernard King etched his name into the NBA record books by becoming the first player since Rick Barry in 1967 to score 50 or more points in back-to-back games. By then, King had already earned a reputation across the league as a scoring machine, but on Christmas Day 1984, he redefined what that really meant. That afternoon, King exploded for 60 points against none other than the New Jersey Nets, setting a new single-game scoring record for the Knicks and becoming just the 10th player in NBA history to drop 60 or more in a game.

Despite his offensive brilliance, King’s 32.9 points per game weren’t enough to lift a struggling Knicks squad that stumbled to a 24,58 finish in the 1984,85 season. Still, that forgettable record ended up being a blessing in disguise.

That summer, the ping pong gods smiled on New York, awarding the Knicks the top pick in the very first NBA draft lottery. Their prize? Georgetown phenom Patrick Ewing. But just as Knicks fans began dreaming of a fearsome King-Ewing pairing, fate intervened. At the tail end of the 1984,85 season, King suffered a devastating leg injury that required major reconstructive surgery to repair a torn ACL, damaged cartilage, and a broken leg bone. The injury not only sidelined King, but it also robbed fans of what could’ve been one of the most electrifying duos in Knicks history.

Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

King’s injury sidelined him for the entire 1985-86 season and nearly all of 1986-87. He did make a brief return for the final six games of that 1987 campaign, and while his natural scoring touch hadn’t completely vanished, his athleticism was a shadow of what it once was. After the season wrapped, the Knicks made the tough decision to release him.

Still, Bernard King will forever hold a place among the greatest to ever wear a Knicks jersey and among the most gifted scorers in NBA history. In 2013, he received basketball’s ultimate honor with his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. But the question will always linger in the minds of Knicks fans of what if?

What if King never got hurt? What if he and Ewing had become one of the most dominant duos the league had ever seen? It’s a scenario that feels entirely possible, but one that will always remain in the realm of imagination, leaving fans to wonder what could have been.

Jeremy Lin — What Jeremy Lin did for the Knicks in 2012 ranks as one of the most exciting times in franchise history.

Over the span of nine games, during which Jeremy Lin guided the Knicks to eight wins, seven of them consecutive, his extraordinary journey unfolded from an unexpected spot start, creating one of the most captivating stories in NBA history. Years later the phenomenon is still alive, which was most recently documented by HBO. For each one of those 12 games in which “Linsanity” occurred, a debate could be had over which one served as the most memorable.

Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Was it his electrifying 38-point performance against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, punctuated by the irony of Kobe telling reporters before the game that he had no idea who Jeremy Lin was?

Or was it the ice-cold game-winner in Toronto, where a sold-out crowd of 20,000 stood frozen as the score remained tied at 87 with just 17 seconds left? Lin stood calmly at midcourt, eyes locked on the rim as the entire basketball world held its breath. He waved off the screen, took the moment for himself, and let the clock tick down. At five seconds, he made his move, four quick dribbles to the top of the key, then rose up for a three. The shot was pure, the follow-through perfect. And as that ball soared through the air, you got the feeling, not just Knicks fans, but Raptors fans too, everyone knew it was going in.

Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images

That moment didn’t just win the game. It etched Lin into the record books, making him the first player in NBA history to score at least 20 points and dish out seven assists in each of his first five career starts.

Although all great things must come to an end, Jeremy Lin’s historic run didn’t just captivate fans; it saved the Knicks’ season and helped launch them into the NBA Playoffs. The New York Times even called Lin the most popular Knicks player in a decade, and that was while he shared the court with stars like Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire.

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