During the 1969-70 season, the Knicks had a then-single-season NBA record 18 straight victories en route to a 60-22 record.

Wataru Misaka, A 5-foot-7-inch point guard of Japanese descent, was selected by the New York Knicks in the 1947 BAA Draft. He debuted as the first non-Caucasian player in the BAA (later known as the NBA) in 1947, the same year that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. There were no press conferences or interviews to commemorate Misaka's first game. "It wasn't a big thing," he said. "Nobody cared." Misaka played three games and scored seven points in 1947-48 before being cut mid-season.

While playing for the Knicks, point guard Walt Frazier picked up the nickname "Clyde" because he wore a hat similar to that of Warren Beatty, who played Clyde Barrow in the 1967 biographical crime film Bonnie and Clyde. "It's Clyde's ball," teammate and Knicks captain Willis Reed told Sport magazine at the height of the Frazier era in New York. "He just lets us play with it once in a while."

On February 8, 2017, Charles Oakley was involved in an altercation at Madison Square Garden as the Knicks faced the visiting Los Angeles Clippers. Oakley was ejected from the arena after he allegedly yelled at James L. Dolan, the Executive Chairman of Madison Square Garden, an allegation he denies. According to the Knicks, he hit a security guard in the face and shoved another guard before being dragged away from the game, handcuffed, and arrested by police. Oakley disputed the Knicks' rendition of events in an interview with ESPN's The Undefeated, saying he "never said a word to Dolan" and "was minding his own business when he was confronted by Madison Square Garden Security, who asked why he was sitting so close to Dolan before demanding that he leave the building."

In 1979-80, Micheal Ray Richardson became the third player in NBA history--after Slick Watts (1976) and Don Buse (1977)--to lead the league in both assists 832 and steals 265, setting Knicks franchise records in both categories. He also recorded 18 triple-doubles, the second-most in franchise history.

John Starks' 217 three-pointers during the 1994-95 NBA season broke Louie Dampier's single-season professional (NBA or ABA) record of 199 during the 1968-69 ABA season. Dennis Scott broke Starks' record a year later with 267.

Known as the king of "shake and bake", Earl Monroe's smooth moves and flamboyant style landed him in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and earned him the iconic nickname "Black Jesus." In Spike Lee's film He Got Game, convicted felon Jake Shuttlesworth explains to his son, star basketball prospect Jesus Shuttlesworth, how he got his name: "When he was in the streets of Philly, the playgrounds, you know what they called him? Jesus. That's what they called him -- Jesus. 'Cause he was the truth. Then the white media got ahold of it. Then they got to call him Black Jesus. He can't just be Jesus? He got to be Black Jesus. You know, but still ... he was the truth."

In 1994-95, power forward Anthony Mason came off the bench to average 9.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 0.9 steals per game, earning NBA Sixth Man of the Year honors. The following year, he became a starter for the Knicks and led the league in minutes played.

7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) center Patrick Ewing earned All-NBA First Team honors in 1989-90 when he scored a franchise-record 2,347 points.

During this 15-year tenure as Knicks' head coach, Red Holzman won a total of 613 games, and the team retired that number in his honor on March 10, 1990.