8 Things That Didn’t Exist When the Knicks Last Won the Championship

The New York Knicks are just one win away from ending a decades-long championship drought, a moment that generations of fans have been waiting for over the last half-century. When the franchise last claimed an NBA title in 1973, the world was a very different place. 

The internet was a distant dream. Personal computers, GPS navigation, and smartphones hadn’t been invented.

Entire generations have been born, grown up, and grown old without ever seeing the Knicks celebrate a championship. The current Knicks roster, and even some of their parents, weren’t alive when the Knicks last hoisted the trophy. Now, after a historic run through the 2026 NBA Finals and with a 3-1 series lead over the San Antonio Spurs, New York is on the verge of a title that would bridge more than five decades of change.

To truly appreciate just how much time has passed, let’s travel back to the Knicks’ last championship year and see what hadn’t been introduced to the world yet.

1. Star Wars
2. The Internet
3. Smartphones 
4. GPS
5. Disposable Cameras
6. McDonald's Happy Meal
7. NBA Three-Point Line
8. The 2026 New York Knicks

Star Wars

The first Star Wars film wasn’t released until 1977, four years after the Knicks’ last title. Fans who watched New York defeat the Boston Celtics in 1973 (with a 4-1 series lead) had never heard of Darth Vader, Chewbacca, or R2-D2. For those who grew up with Star Wars as a "classic," it’s hard to imagine a world without it. 

Yet, many longtime Knicks fans witnessed both the team’s championship and the cultural arrival of Star Wars in real time, making it slightly less surreal to imagine a world where neither existed.

The Internet

When the Knicks last won the NBA title, the internet as we know it simply didn’t exist. Computers were massive, expensive, and anything but personal. The foundations of the internet wouldn’t be laid until the next decade; the World Wide Web would arrive even later, in 1989. 

Knicks fans in 1973 couldn’t reach for a phone and look up answers in an instant. Instead, they relied on encyclopedias, libraries, magazines, and newspapers, none of which offered the immediacy of today’s internet.

Smartphones 

Smartphones, too, were unimaginable in 1973. Fans watching the championship couldn’t record the game in 4K with a pocket-sized device, share it instantly on social media, or FaceTime relatives across the country. 

People were present, eyes on the court, hands in the air, not on a phone. The first portable phone was invented just months before the championship, but it was bulky, required 10 hours to charge, cost $4,000, and could only make voice calls. Widespread mobile phone use wouldn’t come until the 1990s and 2000s. 

For Millennials and Gen Z, it’s nearly impossible to picture a packed stadium where no one is holding up a phone.

GPS

If the internet and smartphones didn’t exist, it’s no surprise that modern GPS systems were also missing when the Knicks last won the championship. In 1973, the U.S. Department of Defense was just beginning to develop GPS technology. The first satellite wouldn’t launch until 1978, and GPS wouldn’t become commonplace until the mid-1990s. 

Instead, people navigated with a paper map, highlighting routes before they left home, relying on road signs and a keen sense of direction. There were no digital voices giving turn-by-turn directions, no real-time rerouting, just you, your map, and the open road.

Disposable Cameras

Even digital cameras, now considered nostalgic, were nowhere in sight in 1973. Disposable cameras, the kind you had to wind manually and take to a store for developing, hadn’t been invented. Cameras were compact but analog, requiring film cartridges. Getting your photos developed meant a trip to the drugstore or a camera shop, then waiting days to get your pictures back. 

Today, it’s hard to imagine waiting days to see a photo when a smartphone displays it instantly, and modern cameras can transfer images to your phone in seconds.

McDonald's Happy Meal

Even McDonald’s menus looked different. While you could get a burger, fries, and shake, the Happy Meal wouldn’t debut until 1977. 

In 1973, no one was buying a Happy Meal for their kids on the way to see the Knicks beat the Celtics, a now-classic and cost-effective treat that always includes a toy.

NBA Three-Point Line

We’ve covered technology, culture, and food, but what about basketball itself? In 1973, the three-point line didn’t exist in the NBA. It wouldn’t be introduced until the 1979-80 season.

Every basket, no matter the distance, was worth just two points, so no three-pointers were scored during the Knicks’ last championship game.

The 2026 New York Knicks

And of course, the current Knicks roster, with players born between 1992 and 2005, didn’t exist the last time the team won it all. Some active Knicks weren’t even born when the franchise made the Finals in 1999. 

Jalen Brunson, now an offensive powerhouse for the Knicks, was just three years old when his father, Rick Brunson, then a player and now a Knicks assistant coach, faced the Spurs in the '99 Finals. Rick himself was only a year old when New York won its last championship.

In so many ways, the world has changed since the Knicks reigned as NBA champions. If they secure this title, it will mean so much more than just a trophy; it will be the start of a new chapter for a team and city that have waited half a century for this moment. Dare we say, Knicks in 5? 

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