Ben Stiller Says He'd Take Knicks Championship Over Oscar Win

The biggest honor in entertainment means nothing to Ben Stiller -- at least in comparison to his beloved New York Knicks' success ... 'cause the actor said he'd rather have an NBA title than an Oscar!!

The comedy legend and "Severance" director admitted just how crazy he is about his basketball team on the latest episode of Travis and Jason Kelce's "New Heights" podcast ... when he admitted he'd be perfectly content with never getting a statuette in his trophy case -- as long as Larry O'Brien comes back to New York.

Stiller joked a Knicks title is a lot more likely ... so he's "definitely down" for it to play out like that.

But, playing along with the scenario -- if he KNEW both would happen, but he could only pick one ... Stiller doubled down and said he'd want the Knicks to be victorious.

Of course, Stiller presented at this year's Academy Awards ... and notably posted on X about the Knickerbockers during the ceremony -- despite being a presenter for the event.

While he has a few other shiny things in his collection, the Knicks haven't won an NBA Finals since 1973 ... and haven't won the Eastern Conference since 1999.

But, things have been looking much better in the Big Apple lately ... thanks to stars like Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.

Travis explained he felt for Stiller -- as his Cleveland Cavaliers went forever without a ring before LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love took down the Golden State Warriors in 2016.