The word “legend” tends to be overused these days when it comes to sports figures, but there’s no disputing that the designation fits Dick McGuire.

McGuire spent 53 years as a member of the New York Knicks organization — nearly the franchise’s whole history — as a player, assistant coach, head coach and scout. When he died this week at 84, he was still scouting college games.

Nowadays, free agency has all but destroyed the concept of team loyalty; it’s almost unheard of for a player to spend his entire career with the same team. But Dick McGuire was a New Yorker through and through — and there was but one team for him.

In the early ’50s, he led the Knicks to three straight NBA finals appearances and was named to five All-Star teams; in 1993, he was named to the NBA Hall of Fame.

The great playmaker Bob Cousy said that of all opponents he competed against, McGuire played the game he most admired. It’s a most fitting and appropriate tribute.

And as ex-Knick Mark Jackson wrote in The Post, in New York, Dick McGuire was basketball royalty.

RIP.