John Starks

I played fourteen seasons in the NBA, eight of which were for the New York Knicks. Throughout my career, I played as hard as I could every night. As early as the year 2000, I started losing flexibility in my hips, and by the time I retired, I had difficulty moving around entirely. Since I’ve been retired, I’ve been working with the New York Knicks front office to develop fan and alumni relations and with the Garden of Dreams Foundation at community events. At those community events, I struggled to get on the court to participate in activities with the kids. At that point, I had to do something to help manage the pain that was keeping me from doing what I love.

I went to HSS so that Dr. Edwin Su could evaluate my hip. After all of the minutes I had put in on the court and the countless hours of training throughout my career, my hip had worn down to the point of being bone on bone. Dr. Su operated on my hip to alleviate my arthritis and help me get my mobility back.

After the surgery, I was able to get on the court with the kids and be active instead of watching from the sidelines. I am so grateful for Dr. Su and the staff at Hospital for Special Surgery for everything they did to help me get back to living my life and helping fans connect with the Knicks.