The 1975–76 New York Knicks season was the 30th

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 axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

for the team in the

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

(NBA). In the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

, the Knicks had a 38–44 win–loss record, finishing in fourth place in the Atlantic Division and failing to qualify for the

1976 NBA Playoffs The 1976 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1975–76 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics defeating the Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns ...

Earl Monroe Vernon Earl Monroe (born November 21, 1944) is an American former professional basketball player. He played for two teams, the Baltimore Bullets and the New York Knicks, during his career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Both teams ...

was the leading scorer for the Knicks with 20.7 points per game.

Spencer Haywood Spencer Haywood (born April 22, 1949) is an American former professional basketball player and Olympic gold medalist. Haywood is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, being inducted in 2015. Early life Haywood was born on Ap ...

led New York in rebounding with 11.3 per game, and

Walt Frazier Walter "Clyde" Frazier Jr. (born March 29, 1945) is an American former professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As their floor general and top perimeter defender, he led the New York Knicks to the franchise's o ...

averaged a team-best 5.9 assists per game. In the

1975 NBA draft The 1975 NBA draft was the 29th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 29, 1975, before the 1975–76 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players ...

, the Knicks had the ninth overall pick and used it to select

Gene Short Eugene Short Jr. (August 7, 1953 – March 16, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. He was a 6'6" 200 lb small forward and attended Jackson State University. Short was from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He was selected 9th o ...

. New York reached an agreement with

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

forward

George McGinnis George F. McGinnis (August 12, 1950 – December 14, 2023) was an American professional basketball player who played 11 seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball ...

for a six-year contract, but it was rejected by the NBA because the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

held his rights after choosing him in the

1973 NBA draft The 1973 NBA draft was the 27th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 24 and May 5, 1973, before the 1973–74 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college baske ...

. The Knicks were stripped of their first-round pick in the 1976 draft for attempting to sign McGinnis. Attempts to sign retired center

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...

were also unsuccessful. Early in the season, the Knicks lost five consecutive games in November 1975, and by mid-December they had lost 20 of their first 30 games. At this time the Knicks went on a six-game winning streak, and in January 1976 they had another unbeaten run of six games that left their record at 24–23. This was the only point during the season when New York had a winning percentage above .500; they immediately lost five games in a row and remained under .500 for the rest of the season. A March 30 loss to the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

officially eliminated the Knicks from postseason contention; it was the first season since 1965–66 that the team did not reach the playoffs.

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

:z – clinched division title :y – clinched division title :x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1975-76 New York Knicks season New York Knicks seasons

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

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 Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

1970s in Manhattan