Charles Oakley: Fat Joe disrespected Anthony Mason

Charles Oakley in many ways serves as the old-school conscience of the NBA, and he was back at it again Friday - opining that rapper Fat Joe shouldn't have identified Anthony Mason as the previously-unnamed subject of The Notorious B.I.G.'s 1997 track "I Got A Story To Tell".

"I think it's ... disrespectful," Oakley told TMZ Sports Friday. "I know Fat Joe, nice guy, but I played with Mason and I always got his back. Biggie ain't here to tell the real truth."

Fat Joe divulged last week that Mason - who played with Oakley on the New York Knicks from 1991-96 and who died last year at the age of 48 - was the topic of the Biggie song (NSFW lyrics) that described a sexual encounter with the girlfriend of a Knicks player, and that player arriving home in the middle of it.

"I gotta roll with Mase," Oakley added. "He didn't ever tell me about it and we was real tight."

Mason and Oakley, alongside center Patrick Ewing, formed an imposing frontcourt for a Knicks team that in the early-to-mid '90s, won two Atlantic Division titles and reached the 1994 NBA Finals.

"Definitely disrespectful," Oakley added, regarding Fat Joe's comments. "You don't talk about a guy after he's deceased."