Knicks Legend Dick Barnett Among Basketball Hall of Fame Veteran Finalists
Another New York Knicks star has gotten some good news for All-Star weekend.
Eight-year Knickerbocker Dick Barnett is on the list of 14 finalists unveiled by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's Class of 2024. Barnett is one of two Veteran Committee finalists alongside the late Harley Redin.
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Barnett, 87, spent the last eight seasons of his 14-year NBA career with the Knicks, repping the team in the 1968 All-Star Game and partaking in each of its two championship runs (1970, 1973). To date, Barnett is the ninth-leading scorer in Knicks history (9,442) and is one of only a dozen to play at least 600 games in a New York uniform. Barnett's No. 12 is one of seven numbers retired in Knicks history.
Prior to his New York entry, Barnett gained fame as a member of the Tennessee State (then known as Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial) program that took home three consecutive national championships (1957-59) on the NAIA level.
Tennessee A&I was the first historically black college/university to claim a men's basketball national title and Barnett also earned All-American honors. The Hall of Fame previously inducted the 1957-59 Tigers teams in 2019.
Barnet became the fourth pick of the 1959 draft, as he was chosen by a different brand of New York team, the Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76ers). His rights were sold to the Los Angeles Lakers after three seasons, where he spent three more campaigns before he was traded to the Knicks in 1965.
The 2024 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class will be announced on April 6 during the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four in Phoenix. Among the more modern nominees are Seimone Augustus, Chauncey Billups, and Vince Carter.
