Oakley: NBA should have fined or suspended Dolan for MSG incident
Legendary NBA enforcer Charles Oakley is still fuming about being manhandled and embarrassed by New York Knicks security in his last visit to Madison Square Garden.
Oakley discussed his MSG confrontation in a recent episode of the "For the Win" podcast, and argued that NBA commissioner Adam Silver should have taken action against Knicks owner James Dolan for his handling of the situation.
"The meeting we went to before the All-Star break, everybody was like, 'OK, we're going to put the helping hand in,'" Oakley said, as transcribed by Ted Berg of USA Today Sports.
"They put the hand in, but they didn't do anything about the issue, what's going on. I'm still fighting it - three charges. I like my team, I like myself, and I know I didn't do anything wrong. We're going to fight it.
"It hurt to see my mother really hurt behind that. She's been really stressed out. They know I'm not the type of guy they tried to plant me as. I don't think the commissioner took a good approach toward this. I think (Dolan) should have been fined or suspended, a month or ten games. (Silver) fined the owner of the Houston Rockets $100,000 for walking up to the official."
Oakley purchased a ticket to attend a Knicks game in February and sat in a section near Dolan. That lasted until halfway through the first quarter, when security mobbed Oakley, which produced a physical confrontation.
Charles Oakley shoves Madison Square Garden security and is escorted out of the building in strange scene pic.twitter.com/lTphvnSzFV
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 9, 2017
The ugly fallout has seen Silver and Michael Jordan broker a meeting between the two Knicks icons, but bitter feelings remain on both sides. Oakley rejected Dolan's invite to MSG, while Dolan is pursuing three charges against the beloved Knick.
"They're going forward with it, so I don't have a choice," Oakley said. "Three more charges - assault, harassment and trespassing. Really? Trespassing? You see what happens with this, you see why everything else (with the existentially disappointing Knicks franchise) is going wrong. They don't get it."