NYC mayor’s MLK basketball reference doesn’t play well at the Garden

Addressing Knicks fans on MLK Day, New York City mayor Eric Adams made a correlation between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and basketball, which didn’t work. 

On MLK Day, many sports figures and organizations honor Dr. King’s legacy by sharing one of his many inspirational messages.

NYC mayor Eric Adams decided to draw his own parallels between Dr. King’s life and that of the game of basketball, but it didn’t go over well with NYC basketball fans. Even though Mayor Adams has only been in office for two weeks, New Yorkers were already welcoming his presence with loud boos.

“When the civil rights battle was on the line, Dr. King wanted the ball in his hands,” Adams told the crowd at Madison Square Garden.

NYC mayor Eric Adams makes MLK-basketball analogy before Knicks crowd

While it’s important to commemorate Dr. King for all that he accomplished, Mayor Adams’ attempt to tie together MLK, basketball and COVID stretched a little thin as Adams suggested Knicks fans “win this for Team New York and Team America.”

To credit his speechwriter, making a case for Team New York and Team America is always a crowdpleaser, even among sardonic New Yorkers.

“Let’s take the ball and have the final goal,” Mayor Adams said to cheers. While baskets are technically recorded as field goals, it sounds more like Adams is talking about a soccer match than a basketball game.

To Adams’ credit, it’s hard to impress a crowd of Knicks fans, especially if you’re New York City’s mayor — but it might help if Adams starts trashing Trae Young the way Bill de Blasio did.

And to take another note from de Blasio’s mistakes, never, ever show up to a press conference in Nets gear.