Patrick Ewing joins Knicks as basketball ambassador

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News on Oct 4, 2024

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CHARLESTON, S.C. — Patrick Ewing is coming home.

The Knicks announced the franchise legend will be joining the franchise in a newly-appointed position of basketball ambassador Friday afternoon. Ewing will assist with both basketball and business operations.

“As I said the day my number 33 jersey lifted into the rafters at MSG, I will always be a Knick and I will always be a New Yorker. I can’t wait to get started in this new position and to officially be back with the organization that I love so much,” Ewing said in a statement. “The Garden has always been my home and I’m looking forward to working with Leon Rose, Coach [Tom] Thibodeau, the team and everyone else that makes this place so special.”

Ewing made 11 NBA All-Star teams and averaged 21 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and a steal over 1,183 career games. He made seven All-NBA teams and earned First-Team honors when he averaged a career-high 28.6 points and four blocks per game to go with 10.9 rebounds in 1990.

“The New York Knicks and Patrick Ewing are synonymous with one another, and we are humbled and excited to bring Patrick back home,” Knicks president Leon Rose said. “A monumental figure in New York basketball lore, Patrick brings a wealth of knowledge from his time both on and off the court that is unmatched. We are ecstatic that Patrick will once again be back in the blue and orange.”

The Knicks selected Ewing first overall in the 1985 NBA draft the season after he won Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year and led the Georgetown Hoyas to the program’s only NCAA championship.

Ewing also represented Team USA and helped bring the country gold medals in the 1984 and 1992 Olympic Games. He was a 2010 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

“As someone who grew up a huge Knicks fan during the Patrick Ewing era, the entire Knicks organization and I couldn’t be happier that Patrick is back with the team in an official capacity,” said Jamaal Lesane, Chief Operating Officer, MSG Sports.

Ewing was also named to the NBA’s 50th and 75th Anniversary teams. The Knicks retired his jersey on Feb. 28, 2003.