First off, NY is a GIANT market. So the Knicks have millions of fans. And it’s also common for people to leave NY as they get older.

This year we saw Knick fans in DC take over and chant Let’s Go Knicks. We also saw this in MSG Miami when we took over the Heat chants. There’s a couple other venues we’re known for filling up more seats than home team.

Secondly, lots of celebrities support us, even when we’re bad. But this also makes competition step up bc they want to look good for their favorite rapper, actor, ball player whatever. High stake games also lead to higher stake emotions. A lot of fan bases do have famous fans BUT they don’t show out unless they’re good. I remember it was such a big deal that like Kevin Hart and Will Smith were going to a Sixers game in 2018, bc they were finally good. Bc the previous 5 years they sucked so bad celebrities wouldn’t show their face. We can (and have been) the worst team in the league and have had A-lost celebrities show up to the game.

The first two points are fairly unique to us, I guess Laker fans are everywhere and also have celebrities at games.

Third point is we suck, we actually sucked for the 21st century. Entering November 2023 we were the worst team in the 21st century. We have since passed up the Hornets and I think Wizards now. Ups and downs happen. Sometimes bad teams get pity BUT then it becomes a meme like lolknicks. I’m sure Cleveland Brown fans know the feeling. When franchises turn around after being bad a couple seasons they’re beloved again. Seems like Kings got that. OKC was hated by some fan bases in 2015ish bc of KD Westbrook dominance but now they’re the up and coming team. We weren’t bad for 3/4 years to rebuild. It was 20 years of sucking with a 3 year pause of being good.

People position franchise and teams against one another, they might hate the Lakers but it’s also the gold standard with 17 rings. Knicks though, are still the shit franchise of 21st century with loud fans and no results. This image won’t be scrubbed soon. It will take a 90s Knicks like run, like 14 straight playoffs or like 10 in 12 years min. Sixers did a decent job of being the shittiest team ever and an embarrassment to constant playoff team. While their fans might be in turmoil, nba media is fine covering them knowing they’re good for 50 wins.

Knicks simply haven’t proved enough yet to other fanbases or media to get love. We would have it now if we made playoffs in 2021, but literally up till the Cavs series 2021 was a fluke bc we didn’t follow up. And even now people wonder if we can live up to 2023 playoffs, bc if we don’t, the media doesn’t want to take the chance on us flip flopping every year bc good and underperforming.

4th point is Dolan. Dolan sucks, players hate him, coaches hate him, owners hate him. When a player or coach you respect says something negative about Dolan and you’re not a Knick fan it makes you look poorly at the franchise. Less pity and more like “fuck that team” I don’t like the Clippers but I love how invested Steve Balmer is on everything. He fucking cares.

5th point is our brand of basketball. Casuals don’t care about advanced stats. We hold teams to under 100 consistently while other teams let up over 120 a night, people don’t recognize that if our numbers were adjusted for 120ppg they’d be so much better. But when we win 104-99, people don’t realize we had to slow down the game. 25/7 game for Brunson would be like a 32/9 if we did 124 that night.

Last point is we have no star player, yes Brunson and Randle are all-star level guys. But we don’t have a Curry or Lebron or KD or Luka or Jokic or Giannis or Embiid. The list goes on. We had Melo be all-nba 3x and Randle twice. So like 5 times in like 25 years we had guys who are really good. This makes us hard for non Knick fans to become a Knick fan. A big reason why people like teams is because they like a player

Nothing on the stats shows we are elite to casuals. But if you watch the game and see how we are 8-9 men deep, you realize that this team is built to win.

So combine traveling fans that take over arenas (which annoys people) having celebrities at games, being shitty, having a bad owner and lackluster play style, and no real Star player you can see why it’s hard for non-Knick fans to really be drawn to this team