It took them a minute—ten months, actually—but New York placed a Knicks player on the cover of SLAM just four issues into the magazine’s history. Launched in May 1994, John Starks graced the cover of ish No. 4 nearly a year later in March 1995.
Starks was the first player to get an actual cover-shot session following the first three issues, which all featured in-game photos of Larry Johnson, Shawn Kemp, and Shaquille O’Neal respectively. Respect.
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Not only did Starsky adorn the cover, but he did so by way of getting his own multi-page feature as well as a shout-out in the ed page discussing the cover—side story: Starks beat Chris Webber and Penny Hardaway in the race for getting to the cover in an in-house SLAM draw—and another one-of-a-kind piece analyzing his signature shot at the end of the printed magazine.