After winning their first NBA Championship in 53 years, the days of old for how this New York Knicks team operates could, in theory, be at risk of returning -- and not in a good way.
Now that the Knicks have officially reached the mountaintop and claimed the 2026 Larry O'Brien Trophy, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith is "worried" that owner James Dolan could be in line for a regression to the mean when it comes to his well-documented ways of meddling in team affairs.
"I get worried that [Dolan]... may be one of those dudes that says, 'Hey, we're champions. We finally got the chip. So I can go back to my old ways of being a nuisance and getting in the way of basketball operations because I put business ahead of basketball,'" Smith said.
Stephen A. Smith worries of James Dolan meddling in Knicks affairs
As Smith alluded to, and as every Knicks fan should be well aware of at this point, throughout his tenure as owner, Dolan has built a reputation for being hands-on in the club's decision-making, often reportedly stepping on the toes of the team executives he hired to run basketball operations for him.
From his painfully long and strong loyalty to Isiah Thomas during the mid-aughts to playing an integral role in sacrificing steadily improving on-court chemistry in exchange for attaining the star power of Carmelo Anthony back in 2011, Dolan is believed to have played a role in a number of controversial and, in many ways, detrimental moves over the last quarter century.
Now, to his credit, since Leon Rose signed on as New York's president back in 2020, Dolan has taken a backseat and, for the most part, has allowed the super agent-turned-executive to run the show.
Clearly, this decision has worked wonders, as the Knicks are officially top dogs in the NBA following their historic title run this past season.
However, Smith, a lifelong fan of the franchise, is "very, very" concerned that with this newfound status, Dolan may feel it has bought him "cache" that, in his mind, could allow him to experiment with his old habits once again.
Signs of James Dolan's desire to meddle already present with Knicks
Over the past two offseasons, signs that Dolan is interested in returning to a place of authority in the team decision-making department have undoubtedly surfaced.
Last summer, it came in the form of the surprise firing of head coach Tom Thibodeau, a well-known Rose guy, and the replacement of Mike Brown.
This year, reports say Dolan is unwilling to have New York enter the second apron despite the front office's desire to do so. In many ways, this reluctance played a primary role in the team losing beloved big man Mitchell Robinson to the Celtics in free agency.
Now, fortunately, these moves have not affected the Knicks in a negative way. After all, Brown coached his butt off en route to guiding New York to the 2026 NBA Championship, while the club's self-imposed hard cap still allowed them to bring back a large chunk of their championship core for next year.
Of course, though things have managed to turn out well for them up to this point, it shouldn't overshadow the fact that Dolan is once again showing an eagerness to get involved in basketball decisions that seem to go against President Rose's vision.
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