Why few Knicks players actually live in New York City | Sporting News

Playing for the New York Knicks does not necessarily mean that players will live in the Big Apple.

On Friday, the New York Post reported that Knicks backup guard Miles McBride rented a luxury apartment in Chelsea, a swank neighborhood in Manhattan. As Stefan Bondy of the Post noted, it makes McBride one of the “few” Knicks players to actually live in New York City.

While the Knicks play in Madison Square Garden, right in the heart of New York City, their practice facility is in Tarrytown, New York, about 45 minutes north of the city.

The Knicks may play 41 games per season at MSG (and more if they make the playoffs), but they go to the training facility more often, between training camp, practices, and walk-throughs. Players can train at the facility and get treatment there. The team also flies out of the Westchester County Airport.

Many players ultimately decide to live in the New York suburbs, closer to the training facility, where there is more space and cheaper housing, even though it lacks the glitzy perks of Manhattan.

As The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov outlined in 2020, however, some players are split on where it’s best to live. New York City traffic doesn’t make the decision easy.

Former Knicks veteran Taj Gibson told Vorkunov that he got a place in upper Manhattan, about halfway between the training facility and MSG. While he sometimes hit bad traffic going to and from the facility, he had a shorter ride after games.

“I feel bad for the guys after the game,” Gibson told Vorkunov. “They gotta drive back still and deal with traffic still. It’s pick your poison.”

Past Knicks like Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire both chose to live in the city.

It’s unclear where some of the long-tenured players of this current Knicks team live, though based on Bondy’s tweet, it seems many stay near the facility.

The distant practice facility has occasionally hurt the Knicks as a free agent destination. Former NBA forward Jared Dudley told The Athletic in 2019 that the location of the Knicks’ practice facility hurt them when recruiting players.

“I’d be getting rid of that practice facility in Westchester,” Dudley said. “Nobody wants to live there, no one wants to commute there. You have to get as close to the city as possible.”

Many teams have constructed facilities near their arenas, giving players a general home base where they’ll spend most of their time. The Brooklyn Nets did this, opening a new, stately practice facility in the Brooklyn neighborhood Sunset Park, about a 15-minute drive from Barclay’s Center.

For now, though, it seems the Knicks are content in Westchester County and unlikely to move their practice facility.

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