BERN’ NOTICE: Former Knicks great Bernard King (left, inset) poses with Spike Lee earlier this season. A source says the four-time All Star will make the Hall of Fame this year. (NBAE/Getty Images (2))
Former Knick and Net Bernard King finally has made it to Springfield.
According to a source, the Brooklyn-born King will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the announcements Monday at the Final Four in Atlanta.
Ironically, King lives in Atlanta and attended the Knicks game Wednesday at Philips Arena, visiting the locker room after Carmelo Anthony nearly matched his feat of posting back-to-back 50-point games.
King played from 1982-87 with the Knicks and his career was shortened by knee trouble. He was disappointed in recent years about being passed over for the Hall.
King did the 50-50 combo during the 1984-85 season. King averaged 26.5 points during his Knicks career and holds the single-game scoring record of 60 points on Christmas Day 1984 against the Nets, the team that drafted him with the seventh overall pick in the 1977 NBA Draft.
King, who had been nominated for the Hall six times, played his first two seasons (1977-79) with the Nets and also finished his career in New Jersey in 1992-93. The small forward averaged 22.5 points per game in his career and a career-high 32.9 for the Knicks in the 1984-85 season.
When Anthony joined the Knicks, he said King was his idol growing up, and, at the All-Star Game, called him a “no-brainer” for the Hall of Fame.
“He deserves it,” Anthony said after scoring 41 in the Knicks’ 101-83 win last night. “It’s about time. He deserved it a long time ago.”