Why do the New York Knicks wear orange and blue? The story of the Knicks colors, including full color codes

In this article, we look at the history and details of the New York Knicks logo and colors.

We discuss the different colors and logos that the team have used throughout the years- including full details of their CMYK, HEX and RGB codes.

New York Knicks - A brief history

When Max Kase, Walter Brown and several other future basketball owners were sitting around a table discussing the future of basketball, it’s highly unlikely that they would have predicted how successful basketball would become.

Before joining the NBA, the Knicks were one of 11 teams to join the Basketball Association of America, which would be part of the NBA in the 1949-1950 season just a few years later.

For those not familiar, Walter Brown was the owner of the Boston Garden and Max Kase was the owner and editor of the Boston American.

While the Knicks have not been one of the most dominant teams, they certainly have had their share of memorable players over the years.

Major honors and trophies

While the Knicks have made it to the finals six times in their history, with the last time during the 1993-1994 season, they’ve only won two championships.

This was during the 1969-1970 season and 1972-1973 season.

They also made the finals three years in a row from the 1950-1951 season up to the 1952-1953 season.

The most famous New York Knicks

While you could make quite a list of the famous players in New York Knicks history, in this article we are going to talk about just a few of them.

1. Patrick Ewing

If you were born in the 1970s and 1980s and followed the NBA, Patrick Ewing is definitely somebody you will have idolised.

One thing you may not know about Ewing, he actually emigrated from Jamaica.

The 7-footer played his college days at Georgetown, where he also dominated opponents in one of the strongest conferences in sports at the time - the Big East.

As a member of the Knicks, Ewing was an 11-time all star, part of the 1985-1986 all rookie team, and he was on the all defensive team three times.

He was also the 1985-1986 rookie of the year.

The one thing that Ewing did not accomplish while in the NBA, which may sadly keep him out of the Hall of Fame: win a championship.

2. Carmelo Anthony

After graduating high school, the Syracuse alum spent the bulk of his playing days in New York, with the exception of playing for eight years with the Denver Nuggets.

He came to the Knicks in the 2010-2011 season, and he had the most points in the league during the 2012-2013 season.

3. Walt Frazier

Walt Frazier played the bulk of his career with the Knicks and he had numerous accolades just like Ewing and Anthony.

The Hall of Famer was a seven-time all-star, he made the all NBA team six times, was on the all defensive team seven times, was on the 1967-1968 all-rookie team and the 1974-1975 all-star game MVP.

The 6’4 200 pound guard was also part of the Knicks championship teams during the 1969-1970 and 1972-1973 seasons.

4. Nathaniel “Sweetwater” Clifton

Nathaniel Clifton was one of the first three black players to ever play in the NBA, and he experienced some of the racism that occurred during the 1960s in the United States.

The 6’6 220-pound guard had an eight-year career and averaged 10 points and 8.2 rebounds for his career.

Details of the New York Knicks uniform and logo colors

The Knicks official colors are blue, orange, silver and black.

The blue is in keeping with all New York teams, as the majority of New York professional sports teams include blue in one way or another.

After all, New York City's official colours are orange, blue and white in 1980-1981, and anytime after 1983.

The New York Knicks colors: CMYK, HEX and RGB color codes

Below, find the New York Knicks colors, including the individual HEX, RGB and CMYK codes for each color.

Knicks Blue

HEX: #006BB6

RGB: (0, 107, 182)

CMYK: (100, 56, 0, 0)

Knicks Orange

HEX: #F58426

RGB: (245, 132, 38)

CMYK: (0, 59, 96, 9)

Knicks Silver

HEX: #BEC0C2

RGB: (190, 192, 194)

CMYK: (0, 0, 0, 29)

Knicks Black

HEX: #000000

RGB: (35, 31, 32)

CMYK: (30, 0, 0, 100)

A history of the New York Knicks logo

While the colors of the Knicks haven’t changed much through the decades, the logos certainly have.

Here is a more detailed look at the origin of the Knicks logo and how it has changed through the decades.

1946-1964

To your average Joe, the logo looks like a man in a suit dribbling a basketball. However, what you may not know is the group of people that the logo represents.

This first logo actually represented the Dutch settlers who first came to New York in the 1660s.

1965-1979

This version of the logo had orange lettering and a picture of a dark basketball underneath the word Knicks, which is in orange lettering with a shadow.

For those that aren’t artistically inclined, it may look like a different color.

1980-1983

The creator of this logo chose to brighten up the color of the basketball.

They changed the lettering to red and created streaks which cascade down on the Knicks font.

1984-1989

The font in this version of the logo went to a more definitive orange with no shadow. The Knicks font and the lines which cascaded down were changed to blue.