{"id":730787,"date":"2026-06-11T23:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/730787\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T23:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:40:10","slug":"looking-back-on-the-knicks-1973-championship-sneakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/730787\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking Back on the Knicks’ 1973 Championship Sneakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWith a 3-1 series lead after a historic comeback in game 4 of the NBA Finals, the New York Knicks<\/a> are likely on their way to their first championship in more than 50 years. And for another sign of just how long it\u2019s been, just take a look at what shoes were on the feet of those 1973 Knicks. <\/p>\n

\n\tMany of the shoes on the court those days are now lifestyle staples, but it\u2019s hard to imagine actually playing hoops in them with a landscape now including Jalen Brunson<\/a>\u2018s go-to Nike Kobe Protros<\/a> and OG Onunoby\u2019s Skechers SKX Reign<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\n\tFrom the Converse<\/a> Chuck Taylor All-Star to Walt Frazier<\/a>\u2018s Puma<\/a> Glyde, take a look at what sneakers the 1973 Knicks wore below: <\/p>\n

\t\tWalt \u201cClyde\u201d Frazier: Puma<\/a> Clyde \t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Knicks<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tClyde Frazier guarding Jerry West in game 2 of the 1973 NBA Finals (Photo by George Long\/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSports Illustrated via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tAs an evolution of the Puma Crack, the Clyde made its debut in 1973 as one of the earliest signature sneakers in basketball. His name took over for the previous branding, and the company reportedly made 390 different colorways for Frazier to play in. <\/p>\n

\t\tBill Bradley and Earl Monroe: Converse<\/a> Chuck Taylor All-Star \t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Knicks<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tEarl Monroe (left) and Bill Bradley in game 4 and game 5, respectively, of the 1973 NBA Finals (Photos by Walter Iooss Jr. \/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\n\tConverse\u2019s famed Chuck Taylors were the dominant basketball shoe from the \u201920s to \u201960s, and players including Bill Bradley and Earl Monroe were still wearing them in the \u201970s before the company began struggling later in the decade. <\/p>\n

\t\tDave DeBusschere, Phil Jackson and Dean Meminger: Adidas<\/a> Supergrip \t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Knicks<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFrom left to right: Phil Jackson, Dave DeBusschere and Dean Meminger in games 3, 1 and 5, respectively, of the 1973 NBA Finals. (Photos by Walter Iooss Jr. \/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images; George Long\/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\n\tBefore the Adidas<\/a> Superstar there was the Supergrip. Before the launch of the latter shoe, the Supergrip would appear both with and without the shell toe that would come to define the Superstar. It would then become firmly shell-less to stand apart from the Superstar from 1969 onwards. <\/p>\n

\t\tWillis Reed: Pro-Keds Royal Hi \t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Knicks<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tWillis Reed (left) guarding Wilt Chamberlain in game 1 of the 1973 NBA Finals. (Photo by George Long \/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSports Illustrated via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to Willis Reed, the Pro-Keds Royal was endorsed by fellow big men George Mikan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, with the latter going on to join Adidas and becoming the first player to have an entirely new sneaker designed for him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a 3-1 series lead after a historic comeback in game 4 of the NBA Finals, the New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49986,49,48,263164,459,2901,170220,82],"class_list":["post-730787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-adidas","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-converse","tag-nba","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-puma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}