New York Knicks legend Charles Oakley watched his former team lose to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 119-104, on Thursday at Quicken Loans Arena, and he did so from the comfort of a courtside seat next to Cavs owner Dan Gilbert. Oakley did not have much to say about his ongoing feud with Knicks owner James Dolan, via ESPN:
“I’m just taking it easy. I’m not worried about relationships,” he told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I’m just taking it a day at a time.”
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Asked when he would attend a game at Madison Square Garden, Oakley said, “I don’t know. I don’t know right now.”
Frederick Nance, Oakley’s lawyer who also was seated near him, says Oakley came to the game as Nance’s guest.
“When the Cavs learned we were coming, Dan Gilbert invited us to sit with him,” Nance said in a text message.
They sat alongside Gilbert in the customary baseline seat the owner assumes for every Cavs game. Oakley was in a seat usually occupied by one of the Cavs’ minority owners or Gilbert’s family members.
LeBron James, who publicly supported Oakley when he was kicked out of Madison Square Garden and arrested earlier this month, told reporters that “it’s always great to see him” and “he’s like an uncle of mine.” Cleveland is Oakley’s hometown, and James ended an interview a couple of weeks ago by saying, “Charles Oakley for president.”
It is no surprise that Oakley didn’t want to talk about returning to MSG just yet. He has made it extremely clear that he’s not close to forgiving Dolan, despite being invited back to the arena after Michael Jordan and NBA commissioner Adam Silver tried to mediate the situation.
