Ranking the all-time Knicks villains as CJ McCollum joins the club

Like McCollum, Embiid embraced the repeated explicit chants from the Garden faithful.

“It’s not hostile. I love New York. New York is my favorite city in the world,” Embiid said after Game 5 of that series, which the Knicks won in six.

“The fans, when you play against a team, they’re always going to pick that guy. … If I’ve got to be the punching bag and hear a lot of ‘F Embiid,’ that’s OK. I love it.”

5. ALONZO MOURNING

There are plenty of near-fights in the NBA playoffs that never truly materialize, but that wasn’t the case with Mourning.

The Miami Heat center engaged in a full-blown brawl with the Knicks’ Larry Johnson and Charles Oakley late in Game 4 of their 1998 first-round playoff series — a heated fracas that resulted in Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy grabbing the 6-10 Mourning by the legs.

The image of Van Gundy clinging to Mourning and being dragged as the latter continued to clash remains a lasting one from the intense Knicks-Heat rivalry of the 1990s.

4. TYRESE HALIBURTON

The Indiana Pacers star never misses a chance to take a dig at the Knicks.

He wore a Reggie Miller “choke” hoodie (more on the origins of that later) after Indy eliminated the Knicks in the second round of the 2024 playoffs.

Haliburton then emulated Miller by making the same choke gesture after his bouncing, buzzer-beating long 2-pointer forced overtime in Game 1 of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals — a game, and series, the Pacers would go on to win.

“If I had known it was a two, I wouldn’t have done it,” Haliburton said of his taunt. “I would not have done it. So I might have wasted it. If I do it again, people might say I’m aura-farming.”

3. TRAE YOUNG

Before there was McCollum, there was Young.

Young was the Hawks star who dominated the Knicks during their 2021 first-round playoff series, averaging 29.2 points per game as Atlanta won in five.

His high-scoring heroics spoiled those Knicks’ first trip to the playoffs in eight years.

The Garden’s, ahem, Bleep* Trae Young jeers took on a life of their own, so much so that fans still break out that chant with regularity — including in the current series against the Hawks, even though Young is no longer on the team.

Fittingly, the Hawks acquired McCollum in the January trade that sent Young to the Washington Wizards.

Of course, Young’s villain status is about more than that 2021 series. Young has continued to antagonize New York fans, including pretending to roll dice on the Knicks logo after a 2024 victory clinched a trip to Las Vegas for the NBA Cup.

2. MICHAEL JORDAN

Many of these entries are, at least in part, rooted in silliness and showboating.

But Jordan’s place on this list is about pure domination.

Jordan faced the Knicks in five playoff series between 1989-96, and his Chicago Bulls won all five.

He averaged 33.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game over 27 playoff appearances against the Knicks, including a 54-point eruption in Game 4 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals.

Had Jordan played in a different era, the 1990s Knicks could have very well won a championship, if not multiple.

Instead, Jordan won six titles from 1991-98, while the Knicks still seek their first since 1973.

1. REGGIE MILLER

It could be no one else.

The sharp-shooting, trash-talking Miller delivered some of the most infamous moments in Knicks history during his Pacers’ six playoff series against them from 1993-2000.

Miller’s incessant needling caused John Starks to headbutt him in Game 3 of their first-round series in 1993.

He taunted Knicks superfan Spike Lee with the “choke” sign after fueling a furious second-half comeback at the Garden in Game 2 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals.

And a year later, Miller scored eight points in 8.9 seconds late in Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals to cap another improbable comeback win.

“We’re two grown men,” Lee told the Daily News in 2024 when Miller returned to the Garden for TNT’s Knicks-Pacers playoff broadcast. “That’s dead and buried. We’re good.”

All told, Miller averaged 23.1 points in 35 playoff games against the Knicks, and the teams split those series, 3-3.

But Miller’s infamy goes beyond the box score — and he still leans into his reputation every chance he gets.

“I live rent-free in a lot of New Yorkers’ heads,” Miller said last year on a social-media live stream during a trip to the city. “So yes, they’re still mad.”