NBA: The 30 best trios in league history

Best trios in NBA history: 21. Patrick Ewing, John Starks, and Charles Oakley

• Ewing: 23.6 ppg, 11 rpg, 2.4 bpg
• Starks: 14 ppg, 1.2 spg
• Oakley: 9.6 ppg, 9.7 rbp
• Finals record: 0-1
• Time together: 1991-1998

Outside of the championship teams of the 1970s, those early 1990s New York Knicks teams were as good as it gets in franchise history. In fact, you could easily make the argument that although they never brought home an NBA title, those Knicks squads were the most iconic.

They were physical, played football on a basketball court, and won plenty of games along the way. The heart and soul of those squads from 1991-1998 was John Starks. The pugnacious shooting guard didn’t care if he started or came off the bench. Either way, he was going to get buckets on the perimeter and make life miserable for those who he guarded.

If we’re talking defense, it all started and stopped with Charles Oakley. The former two-time All-Defensive selection made sure the opposition went home every night with a new bump or bruise, especially if they attempted to lay anything in at the bucket.

Ewing, of course, was their unquestioned leader. The multiple-time All-Star routinely poured in over 20 points a night to go along with double-digit rebounds. He made constant appearances on All-NBA teams and was regarded as one of the best big men in the league.

Unfortunately for this trio, they just so happened to be playing in the same era as Michael Jordan. For three consecutive seasons, the Chicago Bulls eliminated them from the playoffs. With Jordan taking time away from the game in 1994, the Knicks were granted a reprieve and bounced them from the postseason in the second round. Still, they ultimately lost in the NBA Finals that year against the Houston Rockets.

The Knicks would lose to the Bulls once Jordan returned, and the franchise never made an appearance in the Finals while the trio were all wearing Knicks colors.