New York Knicks: The State Of The Knicks After The All-Star Break

The Charles Oakley Situation

Of course, the Charles Oakley incident couldn’t go unnoticed. The former power forward always brought an emphatic and physical style of play throughout his career with the New York Knicks.

Oakley is considered to be one of the best rebounders of the mean and tough ’90s, and he’s known to be one of the most aggressive players in history.

It occurred on Feb. 8th at Madison Square Garden in a game against the Los Angeles Clippers. Oakley was surrounded by Madison Square Garden security guards and, after some scuffling, was quickly grabbed and whisked away.

He was then ejected and later banned from the arena. The Knicks soon released a statement about Oakley’s “behavior.”

After Charles Oakley went on the Stephen A. Smith show the very next day, the Knicks released yet another statement.

In both statements, the description of Oakley’s “abusive” actions resulting in him needing “some help” only escalated the issue even further, especially when the team stated that everything Oakley said since the game was “pure fiction.”

The organization made it seem as if Oakley has a distraught life with difficult problems, whether those problems might be physical or mental.

Banning Oakley from his home arena was a decision that was looked down upon by former and current players who didn’t even have any ties within the Knicks organization.

"“I thought that it made the Knicks look bad, it made Charles Oakley look bad, and it made the NBA look bad,” former player Charles Barkley said on NBA Tip-Off, the TNT pregame show, “We get paid to promote the NBA. The Knicks are an awful basketball team, but this was a black eye for the entire sport, plain and simple.”"

A Resolution

A meeting with former teammate and legend Michael Jordan, along with NBA commissioner Adam Silver was held with Oakley and Dolan. Silver released the following statement:

"“It is beyond disheartening to see situations involving members of the NBA family like the one that occurred at Madison Square Garden this past week.  In an effort to find a path forward, New York Knicks owner Jim Dolan, Charles Oakley, and I met today at the league office, along with Michael Jordan, who participated by phone. “Both Mr. Oakley and Mr. Dolan were apologetic about the incident and subsequent comments, and their negative impact on the Knicks organization and the NBA.  Mr. Dolan expressed his hope that Mr. Oakley would return to MSG as his guest in the near future.”"

The ban was soon lifted, but this fiasco will not be forgotten by Knicks fans anytime soon. The bigger situation at hand, however, was brought up in a tweet by former Knicks-nemesis Reggie Miller:

It’s a very intriguing point. When Phil Jackson was first appointed, free agents were buzzing about playing under the tutelage of such a great mentor. Now, after seeing what has unfolded, star-studded free agents are more likely to think twice about playing in such a large spotlight and market.