1996–97 New York Knicks season

The 1996–97 NBA season was the 51st season for the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association. For the season, the Knicks celebrated their 50th anniversary in the NBA by revealing an anniversary version of the team's primary logo. During the off-season, the team acquired All-Star forward Larry Johnson from the Charlotte Hornets, and signed free agents Allan Houston, Chris Childs, and former All-Star forward Buck Williams.

The Knicks also had three first-round draft picks in the 1996 NBA draft, selecting small forward John Wallace out of Syracuse University with the 18th overall pick, small forward Walter McCarty from the University of Kentucky with the 19th overall pick, and small forward Dontae' Jones out of Mississippi State University with the 21st overall pick. However, Jones would miss the entire regular season due to a foot injury, and would never play for the Knicks.

In the regular season, the Knicks won eight of their first ten games, and held a 34–14 record by February 6, 1997, finishing in second place in the Atlantic Division with a 57–25 record, earning the #3 seed in the Eastern Conference, and qualifying for the NBA playoffs for the tenth consecutive year. The team also posted three seven-game winning streaks during the regular season, which were its longest this season. The Knicks enjoyed a successful season, with their 57 wins tied for the third-most in franchise history.

With Houston as the team's starting shooting guard, John Starks played a sixth man role off the bench, averaging 13.8 points per game and leading the team with 150 three-point field goals; he was named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year, receiving 84 out of a possible 115 first-place votes from the media. In addition, Patrick Ewing averaged 22.4 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, and was selected for the 1997 NBA All-Star Game in Cleveland, Ohio, but did not play due to a groin injury, despite playing 78 games this season; it would also be his final All-Star selection, having played in his final All-Star Game the previous year. Ewing also earned All-NBA Second Team honors, finished in eighth place in Most Valuable Player voting, and was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History.

Meanwhile, Houston finished second on the team in scoring with 14.8 points per game, and with 148 three-point field goals, while Johnson averaged 12.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, Charles Oakley provided the team with 10.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game, and Childs contributed 9.3 points and 6.1 assists per game. Off the bench, Williams averaged 6.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, and Charlie Ward contributed 5.2 points and 4.1 assists per game. In the final game of the regular season, at the United Center on April 19, 1997, the Knicks defeated the then-69–12 Chicago Bulls, 103–101, preventing them from posting two consecutive 70-win seasons, and tying the best home record (40–1 set by the 1985–86 Boston Celtics, and later matched by the 2015–16 San Antonio Spurs).

In the 1997 NBA playoffs, the Knicks defeated the Charlotte Hornets in a three-game sweep in the Eastern Conference First Round, and advanced to the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, where they faced off against the Atlantic Division champion Miami Heat, in what would eventually become the first chapter of one of the fiercest NBA rivalries of the period. After jumping to a 3–1 lead in the series, the Knicks were eliminated by the Heat in seven games.

Game 5 of the Heat-Knicks series at the Miami Arena featured a brawl, where during the fourth quarter, Heat forward P.J. Brown picked up Ward and threw him off the court, and several Knicks players: Ewing, Houston, Johnson and Starks, came off the bench during the altercation and all received automatic one-game suspensions; Ward was also suspended for one game, while Brown was suspended for two games. The Heat defeated the Knicks, 96–81.

The Knicks finished fifth in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 790,520 at Madison Square Garden during the regular season. Following the season, Wallace was traded to the Toronto Raptors in a three-team trade, and McCarty and Jones were both dealt to the Boston Celtics.