Charles Oakley says he can't respect Sprewell, others who sat with James Dolan

The Knicks great says it could be years before he's back in the Garden

New York Knicks great Charles Oakley told The Undefeated’s Mike Wise that he doesn’t respect Latrell Sprewell and the other former Knicks who were used as pawns in James Dolan’s bizarre public-relations stunt last Sunday, adding that it could be three to five years before he returns to Madison Square Garden. 

“I’m not happy,” Oakley said. “I told them I’m not happy. They’re tryin’ to sweep this under the rug. I gotta think about this. They tried to tell me, ‘Let’s get some understanding around this.’ I told them in the meeting, ‘My understanding is, it might be three, four, five years before I come to a conclusion how I feel about going back in the Garden. I’m not just going back in the Garden because you want to honor me.’

“Shoulda been done already, right? Why do we always have to wait for somethin’ bad to happen to get honored? They makin’ it look like I want something out of them. No. My thing is, you slandered my name. A Charles Oakley Day isn’t going to fix that.”

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“I’m really pissed about how they brought those guys back to sit with him,” Oakley said. “Bernard King is a legend and everything, but he went through an incident where he was wronged in college by the police.

“And I can’t respect Sprewell. These guys were flown in town to make him look good. I can’t respect those guys no more.”

Just days after Oakley was ejected from MSG and arrested, then banned from the arena by Dolan, the Knicks paraded out Sprewell, who sat next to Dolan courtside and got a huge ovation. Next to him were Larry Johnson and Bernard King. All of them, plus Kenny Walker, Bill Bradley, Gerald Wilkins, John Wallace and Herb Williams were given video tributes in the first half of the game. Vin Baker, also in attendance, told The Huffington Post’s Jordan Schultz that Dolan “called me sounding really sad, asking me if I would come sit with him. Hadn’t spoke to him in 15 years.” 

This was a transparent attempt to illustrate that Oakley, not the Knicks’ treatment of former players, was the problem here. It did not work, and it certainly did not help matters when it came to resolving the issue between Dolan and Oakley.

The NBA tried to help fix this mess this week, with a meeting coordinated by Michael Jordan and commissioner Adam Silver. In a way, it was successful, as Dolan lifted the ban. Oakley, however, is making it extremely clear that he won’t forgive and forget easily.