Amar’e Stoudemire opened up about his Knicks journey and the defining moments of his career during a guest appearance on 7PM in Brooklyn, a Wave Original, hosted by Carmelo Anthony.
In a wide-ranging conversation, Stoudemire reflected on leaving Phoenix in 2010, citing former Suns owner Robert Sarver as the primary reason for his departure.
“I go into negotiations with Robert Sarver…and he’s like, ‘we gotta do some kind of reconstructed contract,’” Stoudemire recalled. “There was too much grey area.”
The six-time All-Star said the Suns’ front office mentioned players like Hedo Turkoglu and Channing Frye as replacements during discussions, pushing him to consider new options.
Free agency led him to New York, where he saw an opportunity to take on a challenge under former Suns coach Mike D’Antoni.
“New York doesn’t have a great team at the moment, so I wanted to accept the challenge,” he said.
Anthony then shared how his own path to New York started in Denver amid front-office decisions that hinted at a rebuild.
“They came to me and said what places you want and I said, ‘there’s only one place I want to go to and that’s New York,’” Anthony said.
After Denver hesitated over trade pieces, Anthony said he called Stoudemire with one clear message: “It’s go time!”
The duo also looked back on the Linsanity stretch in 2012, a surprising rise led by Jeremy Lin while Stoudemire was away following his brother’s death and Anthony was nursing a hamstring injury.
“There was no scouting report for Jeremy Lin…and so he took advantage of it,” Stoudemire said. “He was on the last day of his 10-day contract and took full advantage of the moment.”
Anthony remembered the international spotlight Lin brought: “It wasn’t no celebrity row, it was all Taiwanese and all Asian…the first three rows around the court.”
But the highlight of the interview came when Stoudemire spoke about the bond of the “Knickstape” era, referring to the 2012-13 season when the Knicks won 54 games.
“I honestly think I had the best time of my life during that stretch,” Stoudemire said. “We always did things together off the court…we all truly enjoyed being around each other.”
He emphasized that the team chemistry was evident both on and off the floor.
Anthony added, “From the day that we stepped foot in that training camp, it was like we got a chance to win a championship.”
For Stoudemire, it wasn’t just about basketball. It was about the brotherhood that defined a rare moment of Knicks relevance in the last two decades.
