New York Knicks fans have spent the past four months on Cloud 9 after their team snapped its 53-year championship drought with one of the most dominant playoff runs in recent memory.
Team owner James Dolan has spent the past four months repeatedly trying to ruin those vibes.
Save for a creepy pre-playoff speech where he urged his players to give up sex throughout the postseason, Dolan largely stayed out of the way during the playoffs, with one glaring exception. But ever since the Larry O'Brien returned to the Big Apple, he's been making his unwelcome presence felt at almost every turn.
Let's go through his attempts at submarining the Knicks' good vibes in painstaking detail.
The Trump visit
After going down 2-1 in their opening-round series to the Atlanta Hawks, the Knicks rattled off 11 straight wins to make it to the NBA Finals for the first time in more than a quarter-century. They then won the first two games in San Antonio, putting the Spurs into a 2-0 hole heading back to New York.
Despite the outrageous ticket prices, New Yorkers were eager to welcome their team back home for Game 3. Then came the news that Dolan invited President Donald Trump to attend the game, which led to tightened security and long lines to get inside the building.
The crowd was still electric for Game 3, but the Knicks wound up losing, 115-111. Two days later, they fell into a 29-point hole and looked like they'd be heading back to San Antonio tied 2-2. But with Trump not in attendance for Game 4, the Knicks pulled off a historic rally, then finished off the series in Game 5.
The Knicks' lone loss in May and June being the only game that Trump attended will never stop being funny.
The second apron
On June 13, the Knicks clinched their first title in 53 years. Four days later, Dolan made it clear that they'd face an uphill battle to go back-to-back.
During an interview on WFAN radio, Dolan said he wouldn't allow the Knicks to go into the second apron. With Mitchell Robinson, Landry Shamet and Jose Alvarado heading into free agency, that naturally prompted the question of whether the Knicks would be able to run back their whole team this year.
"I don't know if we'll be able to," Doland told WFAN. "We're willing to stretch, but there's certain things in the NBA that you'd have to be suicidal to do. One of them is the second apron."
The Knicks did re-sign Alvarado and Shamet, but Robinson wound up signing with the Boston Celtics in free agency. They replaced him with Andre Drummond, who had 12 points and 14 rebounds in his Knicks debut against the Sixers on Tuesday, but their financial problems are only just beginning, as we'll touch on shortly.
But first...
The return of Isiah
In late September, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic reported that MSG Sports planned to spin off the Knicks and New York Rangers into separate, publicly traded companies. MSG Sports will become MSG Knickerbockers Corp. and will own the Knicks and the G League's Westchester Knicks.
Former Knicks president and head coach Isiah Thomas will be joining the MSG Knickerbockers Corp. board of directors, Vorkunov added.
The Knicks hired Thomas as their president of basketball operations in December 2003. They went 138-237 during his tenure. After Dolan parted ways with head coach Larry Brown in June 2006, he appointed Thomas as the Knicks' head coach as well. The Knicks went 56-108 with Thomas in the co-head coach/POBO role.
During that time, Anucha Browne Sanders, a former female executive with the Knicks, sued MSG and alleged that Thomas sexually harassed her. A jury decided in her favor and ruled that MSG had to pay her $11.6 million in damages. (Dolan later claimed that she made up her story.)
But hey, any time you can bring an alleged sex pest back in the fold, you simply have to do it.
'No s***, Sherlock'
Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns is in the final guaranteed year of his contract. If he turns down his $61.0 million player option for the 2027-28, he'll become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Towns was hoping to sign an extension with the Knicks this past offseason fresh off their title run, but talks haven't gone as he hoped. According to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post, the Knicks are offering him a four-year deal worth roughly $200 million, which is $76 million less than his projected max contract. Â
When asked whether he thought he should be rewarded with a new deal after helping the Knicks snap their title drought, Towns replied, "No s--t, Sherlock. I just won a championship. You'd think it was pretty easy. Unless you guys [reporters] think I have something else to prove."
The Knicks then took the unusual step to publicly announce that they were tabling all extension talks for Towns and Josh Hart ahead of the season.
"As an organization, our entire focus is on preparing for the upcoming season and delivering another year for our fans to be proud of," a team spokesperson said in a statement to ESPN's Shams Charania. "As a result, we will not be negotiating contract extensions until later in the season and will remain solely focused on preparing for the start of the season."
Given the Knicks' upcoming expenditures, it's reasonable for them to balk at handing Towns a blank check. However, frustration is already bubbling over about the situation, and that may only escalate if the Knicks get off to a slow start or if Towns suffers an injury at some point this season.
Gone phishing
There's evil, and then there's comic-book-villain evil. What Dolan reportedly did to his longtime employees falls in the latter category.
Whenever an NBA team wins a championship, it's customary for most employees to receive a ring as well. But on Thursday, Joe Vardon of The Athletic reported that "many longtime employees at Madison Square Garden, including some who work in the Knicks' business operations, will not receive rings at all."
That's not all.
"Those Madison Square Garden employees got their hopes up at the end of September when the Knicks sent an email to a long list of employees, which gave recipients a first glimpse at their would-be championship rings. Atop the email, a copy of which The Athletic has obtained, was a graphic of two differently styled rings.
"'Congratulations, your Employee Championship Ring is here,' the email read.
"'(Employee name), this one is on the house. MSG is issuing a complimentary employee championship ring. The same jeweler, the same craftsmanship, personalized with your name. No cost to you.'
"'There are two designs to choose from: Championship Gold and Garden Classic. Reserve the one you want below.'
"But the email was a fake-out, a phishing test Madison Square Garden sent to see if those employees would click, multiple team sources said.
"Those who did click the link at the bottom of the message did not get to choose any jewelry; instead, they were forced to attend a mandatory cybersecurity class to help satisfy some of Dolan’s growing cybersecurity concerns, those team sources said."
Alienating your fans, players and employees in one offseason — right after your team snapped a 53-year title drought — is a nearly impossible task. But Dolan is doing his damnedest to pull off that unholy trifecta.
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