Our NBA Quarter Century Team is complete, as dozens of our staff here at WFAN voted on the greatest Knicks and Nets players of the last 25 years.
Pro basketball in the city has gone through its rough times, but since 2000, there have been Hall of Famers and franchise-changing stars to shine in Gotham, and all told, our staff has put together an elite roster that comprises the best of the best since Y2K.
Here is the starting five on our WFAN Quarter Century Basketball Team presented by CashApp:
CashApp
Point guard: Jason Kidd, Nets (58.5 percent of votes)
Jalen Brunson is the toast of the town right now given his rise to stardom, but not enough to topple what Kidd accomplished with the Nets in his heyday. The Hall of Famer was named to two First Team All-NBA squads, and finished second in the MVP voting in his first season with New Jersey. He led the league in assists per game two years in a row, and most importantly, guided the Nets to consecutive Eastern Conference championships. Neither New York time has reached an NBA Finals since.
Shooting guard: Vince Carter, Nets (53.7 percent of votes)
It was a somewhat tight battle with Allan Houston in the polls, but Carter won out for what he accomplished in parts of five seasons with the Nets. The Hall of Famer made two All-Star teams with New Jersey, and in his 374 games with the team, he averaged 23.6 points and 4.7 assists per game, shooting 37 percent from downtown. Carter played for eight teams across his decorated NBA career, but he made enough of an impact with the Nets that they retired his number earlier this year.
Forward: Carmelo Anthony, Knicks (82.9 percent of votes)
Perhaps the greatest scorer in team history, and one of the best the league has ever seen, Anthony arrived in New York during a time when no other stars coveted the spotlight of Gotham and the challenge of turning the Knicks around. Melo was an All-Star in each of the six seasons he spent in New York, winning a scoring title in 2013 when he finished third in the MVP voting. He was the catalyst of that 2012-13 squad, which won 54 games and finally helped New York end its playoff series drought.
Forward: Kevin Durant, Nets (26.8 percent of votes)
Forget how it ended and remember how lethal Durant was during his time with Brooklyn, and the message it sent when he, along with Kyrie Irving, chose the Nets in the summer of 2019. KD averaged 29 points per game in his three seasons with the Nets, earning an All-Star selection each year. He was downright heroic in his 49-point masterpiece against the Bucks in game five of the conference semifinals, and had his shoe been half an inch smaller, the Nets may very well have a championship. Durant won out in a crowded race for this spot, just a couple votes ahead of the likes of Richard Jefferson, Latrell Sprewell, Amar'e Stoudemire, and Julius Randle.
Center: Brook Lopez, Nets (63.4 percent of votes)
Lopez was another slam dunk, as no center in the city made more of an impact this quarter century than the homegrown Net. A 10th overall pick in 2008, Lopez finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting and was named an All-Star four years later. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Nets, joining the team as it moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn. He averaged 18.6 points per game in 562 games with the team, shooting 50.6 percent from the field while pulling down 7.1 rebounds per game.
Bench: Jalen Brunson (Knicks), Allan Houston (Knicks), Richard Jefferson (Nets), Latrell Sprewell (Knicks), Tyson Chandler (Knicks)
Our bench spots went to the top vote getters that did not win out for a starting spot. Brunson has made the ultimate impact on the Knicks in his three seasons so far, being named to two Second Team All-NBA squads and garnering two top-10 MVP finishes in the last two years. He also has one of the more memorable shots in recent franchise history with his series clincher against the Pistons in the first round this year. Houston has his own memorable series clincher back in 1999 against the Heat, and he earned two All-Star selections in his nine years with the Knicks. Rounding out the bench is Jefferson, another pillar of the Nets’ back-to-back Eastern Conference champion teams, averaging 17.4 points per game in his seven seasons with New Jersey. Chandler only played three seasons with the Knicks, but in one of them he won Defensive Player of the Year and was an All-Star in the next. He just edged out Marcus Camby for the backup center spot. Sprewell also earned an All-Star selection after the turn of the millennium and averaged 18.1 points while shooting 35.5 percent from downtown in his four years with the Knicks from 2000 on.
Head coach: Tom Thibodeau, Knicks (65.9 percent of votes)
This was a somewhat close race with Byron Scott, but Thibodeau won out for his role in bringing the Knicks back to prominence in the 2020s. Thibodeau won Coach of the Year in 2021 for leading New York to an improbable playoff appearance, then ended his tenure with consecutive 50-win seasons, capping it off with the franchise’s first conference finals appearance in 25 years. Thibodeau was let go after the season, but his impact on New York wasn’t lost on the voters.
