Top 10 Knicks players with New York roots

Jose Alvarado played his first game as a Knick at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night when the Knicks hosted the Pacers. A Brooklyn native who starred at Christ the King in Queens, Alvarado has now joined a long line of New York-bred players who have worn the orange and blue.

Here’s a look at the Top 10 New Yorkers to wear a Knicks uniform:

1. Bernard King (Brooklyn)

A standout star at Brooklyn’s Fort Hamilton High School, King was one of the most explosive scorers in Knicks history. In his first three seasons with the Knicks, King averaged 26.6 points, shot 54.5%  and led weak teams to the second round of the playoffs twice before suffering a serious knee injury. He is the only Knick to have back-to-back 50-point games, scoring 50 points against the Spurs and then the Mavericks in 1984. King won the NBA scoring title in 1984-85, averaging 32.9 points per game despite making just one three-point shot the whole season. His 60-point game on Christmas Day in 1984 stood as the team’s single-game scoring record for 30 years.

2. Carmelo Anthony (Brooklyn)

A strong case can be made for Anthony to be the top Knick with New York roots or at least be tied for the honor. He gets the second spot here simply because he moved from New York to Baltimore when he was 8, so that is the city that really had the most influence on his development as a player. Still, there’s no denying how important Anthony was to the Knicks franchise. He was a seven-time All-Star with the team. In 2012-13, he averaged an NBA-high 28.7 points and led the Knicks to 54 wins and the second round of the playoffs. He also broke King’s single-game scoring record at Madison Square Garden by dropping 62 points against Charlotte on Jan. 24, 2014.

3. Dick McGuire (Bronx)

Born in the Bronx and raised in Queens, McGuire was a four-time all-city selection at La Salle Academy in Manhattan. McGuire led the league in assists his rookie season (1949-50) with a then-record 386 assists for the Knicks. A seven-time NBA All-Star, he played eight seasons for the Knicks and then later coached them for three seasons before being replaced by Red Holzman in 1967. He is the only native New York player to have his number retired at Madison Square Garden.

4. Mark Jackson (Queens)

You don’t get more New York than this: Jackson was a star in three of the city’s five boroughs. A highly recruited guard at Bishop Loughlin in Brooklyn, Jackson became the all-time assists leader at St. John’s in Queens and then won Rookie of the Year with the Knicks in 1988 and went to the All-Star Game in 1989. Pat Riley’s decision to trade Jackson to the Clippers for Charles Smith, Doc Rivers and Bo Kimble is considered one of the most controversial moves of his career.

5. Anthony Mason (Queens)

Mason, who led Springfield Gardens High School in Queens to a city championship in 1985, helped define the Knicks' tough-guy image in the 1990s. He was a key part of the team’s run to the NBA Finals in 1994 and won the Sixth Man of the Year award in 1995. Beloved by Knicks fans for both his bruising style of play and the fact he carved out a 13-year NBA career despite having bounced around in Turkey, Venezuela, Tulsa (Oklahoma) and the Long Island Surf before making the Knicks in 1991.

6. Carl Braun (Brooklyn)

Born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Braun moved to Garden City his senior year and led Garden City High School to the second Nassau County baseball championship in 1945 and was a standout basketball player. Braun pitched briefly in the Yankees' farm system before joining the Knicks in 1947 and becoming their first big star. He played for the team from 1947-61, except for two years he served in the Army. A five-time All-Star, he went to the NBA Finals three times and currently ranks fifth on the Knicks' all-time scoring list with 10,449 points.

7. Richie Guerin (Bronx)

A star at Mount St. Michael Academy in the Bronx and Iona College, the high-scoring point guard was drafted by the Knicks in 1954 but had to serve two years in the Marines before joining the team in 1956. In his second season, he made the All-Star team for the first of six straight years. Guerin is currently ranked sixth on the Knicks' all-time scoring list with 10,392 points in eight seasons.

8. Dean Meminger (Manhattan)

He was one of the few native New Yorkers to win a championship playing for the Knicks. Meminger, a star at Rice High School, was drafted by the Knicks out of Marquette with the No. 16 overall pick in 1971. He played in all 17 games of the Knicks’ championship run in 1973. Meminger is best remembered for his performance in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals that year when he replaced Earl Monroe in the second quarter, held Celtics guard Jo Jo White in check and scored 13 points.

9. Stephon Marbury (Brooklyn)

One of the most polarizing players to wear a Knicks uniform, there was no denying his talent. Marbury averaged 18.2 points and 7.0 assists in his five seasons in New York. When then-general manager Isiah Thomas acquired Marbury in an eight-player trade in January 2004, he was supposed to lead them deep into the playoffs. Instead, he ended up feuding with Thomas and the Knicks were swept by the Nets in his only postseason appearance in four-and-a-half years. Still, there is persistent affection for Marbury from some Knicks fans as he is routinely cheered when shown on the Jumbotron during games at the Garden.

10. Rod Strickland (Bronx)

Strickland became a folk hero in New York after making a reverse layup at the buzzer in overtime to lead Truman High School to a 1984 state championship. The Knicks drafted him in the first round out of DePaul in 1988 despite already having Mark Jackson, who had just won the Rookie of the Year. Playing backup to another young guard wasn’t Strickland’s idea of how he wanted to start his career and after one-and-a-half seasons, the Knicks traded him to the Spurs for Maurice Cheeks. Strickland went on to have a 17-year career, playing for nine teams.