Every NBA team’s greatest enforcer of all time

New York Knicks — Charles Oakley

Charles Oakley was the quintessential NBA enforcer. There are tough guys, and then there is Charles Oakley. A cut above. A different breed altogether. He was a vicious competitor, and a leader despite not being the best player on the team. It wasn’t just that he had your back. You knew that Oak was going to protect you. There is a reason why he was referred to as Michael Jordan’s bodyguard (an important position Oakley held when he was on the Bulls during the heated rivalry with the Bad Boys Pistons) and there is a reason why MJ was so upset when Oakley was traded to the Knicks.

The 90’s Knicks that Pat Riley helmed had a strict no layup policy. That wasn’t just Oak’s own motto — that was his lifestyle. If you drove down the lane with Oakley around, you were in for a beating. And if you wanted to fight, there wasn’t a doubt that Oak would come out swinging. There was a long-running rumor that he punched Charles Barkley back in 1999 before a Players Association meeting, but in the first page of his new book, “The Last Enforcer,” Oakley puts the rumor to bed, claiming that he did not punch Charles Barkley. He says: “I did, however, slap the sh*t out of him.”