Oakley calls Knicks 'a plantation,' says NBA 'has got to take a look'
Former New York Knicks forward Charles Oakley didn't mince words while chiming in on the franchise's latest drama involving superfan Spike Lee.
"It's a plantation over there," Oakley told ESPN's "Golic and Wingo" on Wednesday. "It's bad."
Monday's fiasco involved an argument about the gate Lee used to enter Madison Square Garden. That came three years after Oakley was forcibly removed from the arena and arrested at owner James Dolan's behest.
"Donald Sterling didn't sell his team either until the NBA came in and did something," Oakley said, referring to the former Los Angeles Clippers owner. Sterling was forced to give up the franchise in 2014 after racist tape recordings came to light.
"It's got to be stopped in some kind of way," Oakley told Dan Gelston of The Associated Press about the Knicks. "The NBA has got to take a look at this. You can't keep closing your eyes to this. This is like, turn your head if you see someone beat somebody up and you just keep walking. It just keeps happening in New York. (Players) are not going to come here because it's the same thing over and over and over. They got a new president and all everyone is talking about what happened between Spike Lee and the Garden."
As Oakley referenced, the Knicks hired longtime player agent Leon Rose as their new team president on Monday - the same day Lee got into the shouting match with security after being told he couldn't enter MSG via the door he said he's used for 28 years. The Oscar-winning film director subsequently said he wouldn't attend any more Knicks games this season.
Oakley filed a lawsuit against Dolan stemming from the 2017 ejection, but it was thrown out in February.
"I ain't ever seen a team lose make this much news," Oakley added. "Maybe the Dallas Cowboys."