Exclusive: John Wallace Talks Knicks, Syracuse and More

Few, if anything, know the pressures of metropolitan basketball better than John Wallace, the New York Knicks' first-round pick from the 1996 draft.

Wallace, 51, was born in Rochester and originally made a name for himself at Greece Athena High School and McDonald's All-American honors eventually yielded a turn in Orange with Syracuse. Wallace was afforded the famed No. 44 previously worn by on-campus legends like Jim Brown and Derrick Coleman.

An All-American senior season ended in the national title game before the Knicks came calling at 18th overall. Wallace would play two stints with the Knicks (1996-97, 1999-2000) in a seven-year NBA tenure that also stopped in Toronto, Detroit, Phoenix, and Miami. Wallace has since embarked on a broadcasting career, which has featured air time on MSG Network.

More recently, Wallace was a featured speaker and instructor at a wheelchair basketball clinic hosted by The Hartford and CUNY’s Inclusive and Adaptive Sports Program. Hall-of-Fame Paralympian Matt Scott was likewise on hand at Queens College, where participants were granted floor time with legends of the game.

Wallace took the time to speak with Knicks on SI about his metropolitan affairs and beyond ...

What drew you to this cause that The Hartford and CUNY presented?

JW: I've done a couple of wheelchair events in the past. One of my cousins, who accidentally shot himself when he was 16 years old, is in a wheelchair, so it's kind of near and dear to my heart. It's awesome to be out here and see some of these athletes. I got a chance to meet Matt Scott, the Hall of Famer. It's just been an awesome opportunity. We gave out new wheelchairs to for some of the participants. Obviously, these wheelchairs are more sport-compatible, so they can play basketball without the regular style wheelchairs. These are just awesome events to be a part of.

As someone who worked through Rochester, Syracuse, and, of course, Manhattan, how has basketball served as New York's great unifier?

JW: Basketball is everything. Just like how football is king in the south, basketball is king in the Northeast, it just really is. You see that there's there's participants from all over the country, California, Michigan, Texas, just people from all over, so it's an awesome event. People are supporting us, growing bigger and bigger each year. This the fourth year of it, and it's going to continue to get bigger.

How do you think basketball, in a city where almost every major league has at least two teams, has created a stranglehold on the metropolitan imagination?

JW: New York's always been considered the Mecca of basketball, from the 60s and 70s, when guys were playing outside in the parks and all those legendary stories, up until today, when we got someone like Jalen Brunson, who's got the town buzzing again. The buzz in the city is real, and that buzz permeates throughout and then carries on, on down to the to the wheelchair leagues, and every other basketball league in New York City is going to be affected by it. So the support is going to continue to grow. It's just been awesome to see everything that's been going on with it.

Today, the Knicks are led by Big East legends like Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart. As a legend of the conference at Syracuse, what did it mean to wear the iconic No. 44 and have an impact on the iconic Orange program?

JW: The No. 44 started with [former Syracuse football running back] Jim Brown, arguably the greatest athlete of all time. It started because, being a young black man in those times, he wasn't able to get a full scholarship to Syracuse. So 44 people donated money for him to go to the school. That's why that number is so special.

To be a part of that lineage of the players who wore that number is just something I've always held near and dear. [Former Syracuse/Miami Dolphins fullback] Rob Konrad was the last football player to wear it. We talk all the time and it's just something that connects us. The connectivity of that number is just second to none any university, for any number at any university. 44 stands above all.

How do you think you've made the legacy of No. 44 proud?

JW: In my first week at Syracuse, Derek Coleman showed up. He was the last person to wear it before me and he basically said it, either I've got represent that number or he's going to snatch it off. I went in with a little bit of fear and a little bit of talent, and that amalgamation of those two things helped me live up to that number.

Getting my number, my jersey retired, and hanging up in the rafters, is something that you know you could tell your grandkids and tell your great grandkids about. People forever are going to ever always see that is something great at Syracuse and that means everything.

There's been a lot of talk about whether your fellow Syracuse alum Carmelo Anthony should have his number retired by the Knicks. Do you think he should have that honor?

JW: I think every NBA team he played for should have it. Denver should retire number, and the Knicks should retire his number. The bulk of his great years were in those two places.

When you look at him, when he retired, he was a top 10 scorer all-time in NBA history. The things that he was able to accomplish coming into the game, he's still the only freshman ever to lead a team to a national championship, being the best player on that team. It's unprecedented for a freshman to be able to do that and the fact that he did that with such ease and then ran to the league, he went in and immediately was an impact player. It wasn't like he was struggling and averaging 10 [points]. He came in, he's a bona fide scorer walking through the door of the NBA. I think when you're that type of scorer, and you have that type of career, and you put up that many points, that warrants your jersey being retired, I think.

You've been involved in the broadcasting game since your retirement, so what do think of the NBA's new media deal, particularly its heavy focus on streaming?

JW: Well, first of all, you've got to mention that it's an 11-year, $76 billion deal? Can't forget those numbers.

That means the NBA is alive and well and thriving. For former players like myself, that's music to our ears, because you just want to see the game and the league to continue to grow and expand from the late great David Stern, the greatest commissioner of all-time that handed it off to Adam Silver, who was definitely turned into the role of being the greatest commissioner in sports today.

This has just been an incredible, incredible journey. I'm happy to be a part of that journey. I can't wait to see what the new streaming [brings], whatever they're going to do with enhancing the game, or the little nuances that they're going to change within the game or the broadcasting world. I'm sure that's coming. I'm looking forward to it and I'm here for it. I'm looking forward to it. It's a bigger platform, and it's a platform that the NBA needs.

The NFL is the cash king. Everyone knows that, right? But the marketing king has always been where the NBA is the best. The best player in the NBA is always the most marketed player in the world, from from Mike [Jordan] to Kobe [Bryant] to LeBron [James] to Steph [Curry], to [Kevin Durant. The NFL, yes, they make the most money, but as many commercials as Peyton Manning, those guys have, which he's obviously an all-time great, LeBron and those guys just [have more]. So the NBA, with this deal, I think it's going to start to close that gap financially, in terms of the revenue that brought in from the NFL versus the NBA.

What would you say to someone who claims that the NBA is dying, which seemed to be a prevalent conversation earlier this year?

JW: Can I bring up Jayson Tatum's contract? What about Jaylen Brown's contract? What about all these contracts that are, you know, $50 million a year? I mean, that's just unheard of. Those are reserved for baseball players, remember, like with [Alex Rodriguez's] and now show Shohei Ohtani, you don't normally see that in the NBA, but you're going to start seeing more of that because of the collective bargaining agreement and the way the salary cap is going.

If you're one of the best players in the world in the NBA, and you're able to capitalize on that, I mean, there's nothing better. Like I said, that gap between the NBA and NFL is steadily closing. You got to take your hats off: the NFL has been the revenue king for years.

But slowly and surely, the NBA is climbing and closing that gap and now you've seen these contracts are growing, which means, I'll never forget this: remember an old Chris Rock joke, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are both making $600 million. What do you think the owners are making? They're able to pay that? So the NBA is in a great spot. The NBA is healthy and alive and definitely, you know, rolling in the cash, so to speak.

I don't want to say the obvious, because, like everyone says, when the Knicks are good, the NBA is good, and that's the old adage, and that holds true today. If you were here this past season for the playoff run and you saw the frenzy that was going on outside with the fans,, certain nights thatthe Knicks had a watch party going on at the Garden, a watch party going on at Radio City Music Hall, or a watch party in Central Park, they were all sold out. The buzz is back in the city, and it's awesome to see.

You can't go down the street without talking to somebody about the Knicks. If you have Knicks gear on, they're going to call you out. I'm not the most recognizable person, but sometimes I get recognized so, like, I'll get into conversation. It's just an awesome time to be a New York Knick and definitely, when the Knicks are good, the NBA is good, and the NBA is definitely good right now.

You played in a pressure-packed period of Knicks basketball, so what's the best thing that you can tell the modern group facing massive expectations of their own?

JW: There's not much I could tell them, because they're they're seasoned veterans at this point. They're all consummate pros. What I can tell you is that, when you lose the way they lost, to a team that they were probably better than, that stings all summer, and it fuels your fire all summer, for your workouts.

As you see already, guys are coming into training camp in much better shape. That's where it starts. It's the summer workouts, it's the things you guys don't see. The fans and everyone, they see the end result. You don't see guys getting up three times a day, working out two or three hours each workout session, putting in nine hours a day, every single day, all summer, because you have that nasty taste in your mouth the way you left the season on and you want to try to correct that this year.

I think that I don't have to say anything about their mindset. I guarantee you their mindset is going to be on avenging what happened last year and trying to take it a step further, then making it to the NBA Finals, because, truth be told, they were so close in NBA Finals. It hurts, and that hurt fuels your workouts all summer, and I think you've seen a result.

Everyone looks in great shape. That's the product of losing to a team that you think you should have beaten and having that taste in your mouth when you don't make it as far as you thought you could have made it.

That just fuels your workouts all summer. You want to get in better shape. You want to show up in better shape. You want to play better. You want to do better. So the Knicks are in a great spot with the with the guys that they have. The nucleus of guys that were here last year are all coming back. You can't ask for a better situation, and the East isn't as strong with Tatum going down, [Tyrese] Haliburton going down, Dame [Lillard's] not with the Bucks anymore. So it's a great opportunity for the Knicks. But just because you should win on paper doesn't mean you will win. You've got to come in with that right mindset and I think they have the right mindset.

What's the best legacy John Wallace can leave behind?

JW: Just make sure I raise my kids the right way. They can be reflective of the way I raised them, and I want all my kids to be self-reliant.

But, in terms of a basketball legacy, I just want to let people know how hard I work. I don't have any regrets. I don't have any regrets on the basketball court. When I walked off the court for that last time, I knew it was time to go, and I gave everything I had, there's nothing left. So from from a basketball standpoint, my legacy is that I gave everything I had to this game.

Honestly, the game has given me more. You give so much, but then the game keeps giving back and giving back. Being a part of the Knicks family now on the corporate side and being an ambassador is still giving back. So I owe everything that I have in this world to basketball and you want to be able to reciprocate. So the NBA has over reciprocated for what I've given to them, but, you know, I'm not complaining.