The 2003–04 New York Knicks season was the 58th season for the

Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). During the offseason, the Knicks signed All-Star center

Dikembe Mutombo Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo (born June 25, 1966) is a Congolese-American former professional basketball player. Mutombo played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Outside basketball, he has becom ...

in free agency. The Knicks started the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

by losing seven of their first nine games as fans at the Garden chanted "Fire Layden", in reference to general manager

Scott Layden Scott Layden (born 1959) is an American former general manager for the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is the son of former coach and general manager of the Jazz, Frank Layden, and a graduate of Saint Francis University in Loretto, Penns ...

. Knicks fans would get their wish as Layden was fired and replaced by former

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...

star

Isiah Thomas Isiah Lord Thomas III (born April 30, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player and coach who is an analyst for ''NBA TV''. The 12-time NBA All-Star was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History as well as the 75 Grea ...

. In January, the Knicks traded

Antonio McDyess Antonio Keithflen McDyess (born September 7, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player. Listed at 6'9" (2.06 m) and 245 lb (111 kg), McDyess played as a power forward. Early life McDyess was born in Quitman, Mississ ...

and

Charlie Ward Charlie Ward Jr. (born October 12, 1970) is a former American professional basketball player. Ward was an exceptional football player as well, winning the Heisman Trophy, Davey O'Brien Award, and College Football National Championship while quart ...

to the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

for All-Star guard

Stephon Marbury Stephon Xavier Marbury (born February 20, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player and current head coach in the Chinese Basketball Association. After his freshman year with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, he was selected as th ...

and

Penny Hardaway Anfernee Deon "Penny" Hardaway (born July 18, 1971) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Memphis Tigers men's basketball team in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). Hardaway pla ...

. Ward was released by the Suns, and later signed as a free agent with the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

. At midseason, Thomas made more moves, trading

Keith Van Horn Keith Adam Van Horn (born October 23, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Van Horn played for the New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, and the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball ...

to the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

for Tim Thomas. After a 15–24 start, the Knicks fired head coach

Don Chaney Donald Ray Chaney (born March 22, 1946) is an American former professional basketball player and coach, most notable for winning two championships as a player on the Boston Celtics, and winning NBA Coach of The Year while leading the Houston Roc ...

, and played one game under assistant

Herb Williams Herbert L. Williams (born February 16, 1958) is an American former basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for eighteen seasons from 1981 to 1999. Williams served as the interim head coach and the assistant coach of the NBA ...

before signing

Lenny Wilkens Leonard Randolph Wilkens (born October 28, 1937) is an American former basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as ...

as their new coach. With a 39–43 record, which placed them third in the Atlantic Division, the

qualified for the NBA playoffs as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.

Allan Houston Allan Wade Houston (born April 20, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1993 to 2005. A shooting guard, Houston played nine seasons for the New York Knicks; he w ...

averaged 18.5 points per game, but played just 50 games due to injury. In the first round of the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, the Knicks were swept in four games by the

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. New York did not return to the playoffs until the 2010–11 season. Following the season, Mutombo was traded to the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

, who then dealt him to the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

. Longtime Knicks play-by-play announcer

Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he ...

was not retained by the

MSG Network The MSG Network (MSG) is an American regional cable and satellite television network, and radio service owned by MSG Entertainment, Inc.—a spin-off of the main Madison Square Garden Company operation (itself a spin-off of local cable provider ...

, having criticized poor play by the team on-air. He remained an

NBA on TNT ''NBA on TNT'' is a branding used for broadcasts of the National Basketball Association (NBA) games, produced by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, the sports division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Sports subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery and tel ...

broadcaster until he retired from NBA broadcasting following the 2020–21 season.

NBA Draft

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Playoffs

, - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 1 , April 17 , @

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

L 83–107
,

(18) ,

(5) , Shandon Anderson (5) ,

Continental Airlines Arena Meadowlands Arena (formerly Brendan Byrne Arena, Continental Airlines Arena and Izod Center) is a closed indoor arena facility located in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. The arena is located on N ...

18,206 , 0–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 2 , April 20 , @

L 81–99
,

(23) , Kurt Thomas (12) ,

(10) ,

19,918 , 0–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 3 , April 22 ,

L 78–81
, three players tied (18) , Kurt Thomas (12) ,

(10) ,

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

19,763 , 0–3 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 4 , April 25 ,

L 94–100
,

(31) , Kurt Thomas (15) ,

(7) ,

19,763 , 0–4 , -

Player stats

Awards and records

Transactions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2003-04 New York Knicks season New York Knicks seasons

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

New York Knick 2000s in Manhattan Madison Square Garden