Age, Biography and Wiki Willis Reed is a retired American professional basketball player and coach. He played for the New York Knicks from 1964 to 1974 and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982. He was the NBA Most Valuable Player in 1970 and a seven-time All-Star. Reed was born in Hico, Louisiana, and attended Grambling State University, where he became a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.