If you close your eyes and think of Patrick Ewing, you see the blue and orange. You see the sweat-drenched Georgetown undershirt. You see him battling Hakeem Olajuwon or taking a punishing foul from a Detroit Piston in the early '90s.
You probably don't see him in a dark green and red Seattle jersey.
But it happened. For 79 games at the turn of the millennium, the most iconic Knick in history was a Pacific Northwest staple. The Seattle SuperSonics Patrick Ewing era is one of those "glitch in the matrix" moments in NBA history. It feels wrong, like seeing Hakeem in a Raptors jersey or Joe Namath with the Rams.
Honestly, the whole thing was a mess from the jump.
The Blockbuster Trade Nobody Liked
By the summer of 2000, things in New York had soured. Hard. Ewing was 38 years old. His knees were basically held together by tape and sheer willpower. He wanted a two-year contract extension that the Knicks front office—led by Scott Layden at the time—wasn't willing to give.
Patrick felt disrespected. The fans were starting to grumble.
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So, they did the unthinkable. On September 20, 2000, a four-team, 12-player monster of a trade went down. It was the second-largest trade in NBA history at that point.
The moving parts were dizzying:
- Seattle got Patrick Ewing.
- New York got Glen Rice, Luc Longley, Travis Knight, Vladimir Stepania, Lazaro Borrell, Vernon Maxwell, and a collection of picks.
- The Lakers snagged Horace Grant, Greg Foster, Chuck Person, and Emanual Davis.
- The Suns walked away with Chris Dudley and a first-round pick.
Knicks fans were devastated. Sonics fans? They were mostly confused. Seattle had been looking for a dominant center since the Jack Sikma days, but they were getting a version of Ewing that was more "fossil" than "force."
How Patrick Ewing Actually Played in Seattle
You’d think a 38-year-old with "chronic Achilles' tendinitis" (as the reports called it) would just sit on the bench. Surprisingly, he didn't.
Ewing actually played 79 out of 82 games for the Sonics. That’s more than he had played in New York for years. But the production just wasn't the same. He went from averaging 15 points and nearly 10 boards the previous year to just 9.6 points and 7.4 rebounds in Seattle.
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It was weird to watch.
The Sonics had Gary Payton in his absolute prime. They had Vin Baker (who was struggling with his own issues) and a young Rashard Lewis. On paper, a Payton-Ewing pick-and-roll sounds like something out of a 1994 All-Star game dream. In reality, it was slow.
Ewing still had that beautiful baseline jumper. He could still block a shot if you brought it right to him. But he couldn't chase anyone anymore. The Sonics finished 44-38 and missed the playoffs.
The Aftermath and Regret
Looking back, nobody really "won" the trade.
The Knicks entered a decade-long darkness shortly after. Glen Rice didn't fit. Luc Longley was a shell of himself. In 2010, Ewing famously told reporters that if he could do it over again, he never would have asked for that trade. He should have retired a Knick.
The Sonics tenure was just a bridge to a final, even weirder season with the Orlando Magic.
Key Lessons from the Ewing-Sonics Era
- Legacy is fragile. A single season in the wrong jersey doesn't erase fifteen years of dominance, but it definitely muddies the water for younger fans looking at Basketball-Reference.
- The "One Piece Away" Fallacy. Seattle thought a Hall of Fame center—even an old one—would stabilize their defense. It didn't. Chemistry and health matter more than names.
- Front Office Coldness. The Knicks proved that even the greatest icons are tradable if the numbers don't add up. It’s a business. A cold, sometimes heartless one.
If you’re a jersey collector, that 2000-01 Seattle Ewing jersey is a holy grail of "weird." If you’re a basketball fan, it’s a reminder that even the titans of the game eventually have to face the end of the road, sometimes in a city they never expected to visit.
Check your local sports archives or YouTube for "Ewing Sonics highlights." There aren't many, but seeing him hit a jumper in KeyArena is a trip. If you're looking to understand why the Knicks struggled for so long after this, start by looking at the salary cap hell this trade created for New York.