Knicks championship trophy will be on display at Natural History Museum
Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr
When the New York Knicks said they would bring their first championship in 53 years back to the five boroughs, they meant it. Starting Monday, July 27, the American Museum of Natural History will display the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Trophy, where it will remain on view through January 3, 2027. The glittering 30-pound trophy, engraved with the Knicks’ championship details, joins the museum’s “For the Win: Objects of Sports Excellence” exhibition, which celebrates some of the greatest achievements in sports history.
Named after former NBA Commissioner Larry O’Brien, who led the league from 1975 to 1984, the trophy is crafted by Tiffany & Co. from sterling silver with gold vermeil.
It depicts a regulation-size basketball passing through a net and features the names of every NBA champion dating back to 1947. For the first time since 1973, the Knicks have once again earned a place on the iconic trophy.
The trophy joins more than 70 other objects of sports excellence featured in the aptly named exhibition, currently on view on the first floor in the Meister Gallery within the Mignone Hall of Gems and Minerals.
The collection spans more than 15 sports and nearly 150 years of athletic achievement. Other highlights include a basketball-shaped fob—a decorative accessory traditionally worn with a pocket watch—that was presented to Knicks head coach Red Holzman following the team’s 1973 NBA championship.
The Larry O’Brien Trophy will also be displayed alongside the National Football League’s Vince Lombardi Trophy, one of Jesse Owens’ gold medals from the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Breanna Stewart’s 2024 WNBA championship ring from the New York Liberty, and Kevin Durant’s 2024 Team USA Olympic gold medal, among others.
“This championship has given New Yorkers an extraordinary moment to celebrate together, at a time when both global competitions and hometown victories have brought a remarkable energy to the city,” Sean M. Decatur, president of the AMNH, said.
“The Museum is delighted to offer visitors the opportunity to see this powerful symbol of athletic achievement up close while exploring the broader significance of sports through the incredible collection of objects featured in ‘For the Win.’”
“For the Win” is curated by guest curator Vikki Tobak in partnership with Boardroom CEO Rich Kleiman, who serves as senior advisor. Access to the exhibition is included with general admission, and was designed and produced by the museum’s Exhibition Department.
“When we opened ‘For the Win,’ Red Holzman’s 1973 Knicks championship fob was the piece that connected this city to its basketball past,” Tobak said. “Now the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Trophy arrives with the Knicks’ names freshly engraved on it, and that circle closes in a way we never could have planned.”
“It’s an incredible thing to have such an important piece of sports history in the show, and to have it come to New York at this exact moment is beyond exciting,” she added.
The trophy is not the only cultural artifact from the Knicks’ historic postseason run to be displayed in the five boroughs. Late last month, the Guggenheim Museum displayed the lucky orange handbag of Karl-Anthony Towns’ fiancée, Jordyn Woods, which became a viral good luck charm during the team’s 13-game playoff winning streak and Game 5 championship-clinching victory. The bag was on display for five days only, through June 28.
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