Free Oak!
This week’s “Who Wore It Best?” is poised to be an undeniable victory. To borrow a scene from The Wolf of Wall Street, when the feds tell Leonardo DiCaprio’s character that the case against him is what they call a “Grenada”, a case in which the Feds can’t lose. The case for Charles Oakley to win WWIB #34 could easily be referred to as a “Grenada.” It’s un-losable for Oakley.
We could have approached this like we did with WWIB #7, where we automatically disqualified Carmelo Anthony because there was no more obvious winner among non-retired numbers. But I’m not about to reduce this week’s segment to a head-to-head showdown between Eddy Curry and Antonio McDyess. Not on my watch!
We also could have opted to bypass WWIB #34 entirely, but when weighing the options, Oakley, McDyess, and Curry offered a slightly more intriguing narrative than a face-off between Doug Christie and Clarence Weatherspoon. Rest assured, though—we’ll delve into that next week. Get excited!
Charles Oakley: Of the six players to have worn #34 since 1971, none did so more memorably than Charles Oakley. Acquired by the Knicks in 1988 via a trade with the Chicago Bulls for Bill Cartwright, Oakley quickly cemented his reputation as one of the NBA’s premier enforcers. Opponents who ventured into his territory were almost guaranteed a free trip to the floor, and if a Knick found themselves in a scuffle—something that seemed to happen on a regular basis— it was Oakley who was always the first to jump to their defense. In the Knicks’ storied history, dating back to 1946, only 36 players have been given the distinction of team captain. Oakley is part of that elite group of 36 Knicks to have earned the prestigious title of team captain, a distinction he shared with Patrick Ewing during the Knicks’ 1994 NBA Finals run and in the years that followed, until his departure from the team in 1998.
Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
Antonio McDyess: Including Antonio McDyess on this list might seem questionable, as he wore the #34 Knicks jersey only 18 times over two seasons. But, like the Oscars and Emmys, even this ranking needs its seat fillers. While McDyess’s most significant achievements—being an All-Star, Olympic gold medalist, and the second overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft—didn’t come as a Knick, his arrival in New York was met with high expectations. Acquired in a draft night deal with the Nuggets in 2002, McDyess brought a renewed sense of excitement to the franchise. Knicks fans were eager for the 2002-03 season, seeing him as the team’s new leader. Sadly, that optimism quickly faded after McDyess suffered a season-ending knee injury during the preseason. Just 18 games into the 2003-04 campaign, the Knicks traded him to the Suns in a package deal that brought Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway to the Big Apple.
Eddy Curry: When the Chicago Bulls drafted Eddy Curry, they envisioned building around a core of young talent known as the “Baby Bulls,” which also included former Knick Tyson Chandler. Nicknamed “Baby Shaq”, Curry was a dominant presence in the paint, and led the league in field goal percentage during his sophomore season. Just as things were beginning to look up for the Bulls for the first time since the Jordan era, Curry was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat.
Before the start of the season, the Bulls requested that Curry take a DNA test to assess the condition’s potential severity. However, Curry refused on privacy grounds, and the Bulls ultimately decided to part ways, trading him to the New York Knicks. Curry’s first year in New York was rocky, marked by clashes with head coach Larry Brown. But when Isiah Thomas took over as head coach in 2006, he made Curry the team’s primary offensive option. Curry responded with career highs in points, rebounds, and minutes during the 2006-07 season. Unfortunately, that season marked the peak of Curry’s career. Following a series of injuries and struggles to maintain his playing weight, his performance declined sharply. From the 2007-08 season through 2011, Curry appeared in only 69 games for the Knicks. He was eventually traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in February 2011, who promptly bought out his contract.
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