Knicks’ dynamic duo do something that hasn’t been done in 50 years

Congrats to the Knicks’ stars

For the second straight year, there were numerous midseason talks surrounding the Knicks’ chances at having an All-Star starter. Just over 12 months ago, when the All-Star game voting results started to trickle in, Knicks fans, beat reporters, and TV personalities wondered if New Yorkers were doing their part to catapult franchise star Jalen Brunson into the starting lineup for the mid-season festivities. But when the dust settled, Brunson, and Knicks fans, had to settle for a reserve spot.

While those same conversations arose again this season, things were a little different. This time around, Brunson wasn’t the only Knick in consideration for a starting spot. In fact, Brunson wasn’t even the Knick who had the best chance at being a starter. That honor belonged to Karl-Anthony Towns, who had seemingly locked up a starting spot rather early in the voting process.

Unlike Towns though, Brunson struggled in the fan voting once again. Throughout the last few weeks, Brunson found himself trailing LaMelo Ball, Donovan Mitchell, and Damian Lillard. It was starting to look like he would need a strong push from the players, and the media to have a shot at starting. And that’s exactly what happened.

On Thursday night, it was announced that both Towns and Brunson had been named to be All-Star starters. Towns is having one of, if not, the best season of his career, averaging 25.1 PPG, 13.9 RPG, and 3.5 APG. He is joined by both Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Jayson Tatum in the front court, and ranked third in the fan voting, player voting, and media voting. Meanwhile, Brunson, who has picked it up since a relatively slow start. is currently averaging 26 PPG, and a career-high 7.3 APG. New York’s captain made a last-minute surge in the fan voting by leapfrogging Lillard and was assisted by both the player and media voting, where he placed second.

Towns is the first Knicks big man to be named an All-Star starter since Amare Stoudemire, while Brunson becomes the first Knicks point guard to be named an All-Star starter since Walt Frazier. And the dynamic duo becomes the first pair of Knicks to start in an All-Star game since Frazier and Earl Monroe did so exactly 50 years ago in 1975. New York also became the only team in the league this year to have multiple starters announced.

Almost as impressive as all of those incredible feats though, is the fact that Josh Hart received 18 player votes, and ultimately finished ahead of household names like Tyrese Haliburton, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Zach LaVine among guards in the eastern conference.

The Knicks, who likely spent some time enjoying the starters announcement, get right back to work on Friday as they kick off an incredibly important nine-game stretch leading into All-Star weekend with a home game against a Kings team playing on the second night of a back-to-back.

If they are to morph into the kind of contender fans can truly believe in over the next couple of weeks, both of the Knicks All-Star starters will need to be on top of their game.