Precious Achiuwa’s Cryptic Post After Knicks Won the NBA Title Is the Saddest Thing You’ll See Today
Precious Achiuwa picked the wrong year to leave New York.
The Knicks won their first NBA title since 1973 on Saturday night, finishing off the Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the Finals. Achiuwa, who spent two seasons in New York and was a quiet but real part of the rebuild, watched from afar after signing with the Sacramento Kings in November.
His reaction came shortly after the final buzzer. He posted a SpongeBob SquarePants meme to X showing SpongeBob and Patrick playing outside while Squidward stares miserably from his window. No caption. No explanation. Just one image carrying every ounce of FOMO a former teammate could pack into a tweet.
Knicks fans got the joke instantly. Plenty of them quote-tweeted Achiuwa to remind him that he was loved in New York, that he could come hang at the parade, that he was always going to be part of the run that got the franchise to this point. The replies were warm. The post itself was brutal.
You can understand the timing. Achiuwa was a Knick when this group started believing it could win something. He played 232 games over two years in New York, started 26 of them, and was on the floor for the playoff runs that built the chemistry the team rode to a championship. Then the Kings offered more money and a real role, and he took the deal that made the most sense for his career.
That decision looked fine in November. It looks different now that Karl-Anthony Towns, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, and OG Anunoby are all about to be fitted for rings.
Achiuwa is not the only ex-Knick reacting publicly. Several former players posted congratulations to the team. The difference is that Achiuwa picked the most dramatic possible way to acknowledge what he missed. The SpongeBob meme is internet shorthand for being on the outside looking in, and that is exactly what Achiuwa is right now.
The fan response is the part of this that hits hardest. Knicks fans are not known for being generous with players who left. This is a fan base that holds grudges for decades. The fact that the entire reply section turned into a love letter to Achiuwa says something about how much that group cared about him as a teammate and a person.
Sacramento finished the season well outside the playoff race in the West. Achiuwa played a steady role for them, but the season ended in April. He has been watching the postseason like the rest of us, and he had to watch the team he just left run the table.
For a 27-year-old big man who has bounced from Miami to Toronto to New York to Sacramento, a championship in a city that loved him would have meant a lot. Now he gets to spend the summer answering questions about it.
The good news for Achiuwa is that the door in New York will probably always be open. The Knicks roster has turnover coming, and a familiar face who showed this much affection for the franchise is the kind of veteran they will think about at the margins.
If he ends up back at Madison Square Garden next season, this SpongeBob post might end up being the thing that pulled him home.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
