RJ Barrett: No Fans at Madison Square Garden 'Might Be an Advantage' for Knicks

The New York Knicks, like most NBA teams, are playing without any fans in their home arena amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Knicks second-year guard RJ Barrett discussed the topic with reporters Saturday and noted that the lack of fans could give his team an advantage at Madison Square Garden.

"Actually having no fans might be an advantage. I know if I was a competitor coming into the Garden with all those fans, I'd want to have a great game," Barrett said per SNY's Ian Begley.

"So coming in there with no fans actually probably gives us an advantage that way too. It's just you have to go out there and play basketball."

The Knicks have largely struggled for the past two decades, making the playoffs just four times in the last 19 seasons. But they haven't suffered much at the gate and even finished 10th in home attendance in 2019-20.

It's not uncommon for opposing players to come to the Garden and light up the Knicks, although that's largely because of the team's defense, which has ranked below average in defensive rating 15 of the past 16 seasons, per Basketball Reference.

Perhaps the 2020-21 season will be different, however.

The Knicks opened their season with a loss to the Indiana Pacers before returning home to play the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday evening.