The New York Knicks threw a big first punch in their second-round series against the defending champion Boston Celtics, meaning the NBA once again gets big playoff games at Madison Square Garden. The only issue standing in the way of a real party in midtown Manhattan is the burbling feud between owner James Dolan and commissioner Adam Silver.
At least according to Bill Simmons in the latest episode of his podcast. Simmons mentioned that the Knicks do not play nice with ticket giveaways anymore as part of a broader issue with Silver and the league office.
“Knicks is (an) even harder (ticket to get), and then it has the added thing of the Adam Silver-James Dolan, whatever is happening there,” Simmons explained. “And I think the Knicks take as many tickets as possible and give them to whoever they want. And just in general … there’s no ‘I can help you out’ with these Knicks games anymore.”
Dolan has been critical of the NBA’s revenue-sharing agreement and accused Silver of favoring certain franchises over others as owner. The Knicks owner switched in the team’s legal counsel as its representative at Board of Governors meetings, and the Knicks have dissented in several recent league-wide votes.
“The Dolan-Adam Silver thing is just bizarre,” Simmons said. “This is the feud that everybody in the league talks about, but nobody actually talks about out loud.”
Tensions exploded as the NBA finalized its new TV deal, which created more national windows at the expense of exclusive local broadcasts. Dolan, who owns MSG Networks in addition to the Knicks, made his frustration known in an open letter to the league office.
At other points in time, Dolan has been the subject of lawsuits over bans he imposed on people like Knicks legend Charles Oakley at MSG. The organization uses facial recognition technology at Madison Square Garden to detect and ban fans critical of Dolan from entry.
“I think it’s way angrier and weirder (than headlines suggest),” Simmons said. “At this point, he’s just the dissenting vote in any chance he gets, he’s gonna do it.”
It’s hard to imagine the beef between Silver and Dolan being even uglier than the public stuff shows. But if there’s anything Simmons is plugged in on, it’s what the rich guys in the NBA are thinking.
Maybe there is more to the story between the owner and commissioner to come.