Hype around the Knicks brings fresh focus on the relationship between owner James Dolan and league

The love-hate relationship between 2 Penn Plaza (the Knicks) and 645 Fifth Avenue (the NBA) is palpable, curious and — insert James Dolan rubbing his thumb and forefinger together — lucrative. The more talent the Knicks accumulate (and every other month there seems to be a Leon Rose bomb), the more eyeballs on the league, the loftier the national TV ratings, the glossier the ad sales, the heftier the NBA’s pot of cash and the less Knicks owner Dolan wants to share.

It’s all a recipe for revenue or dissension — oh, to be a fly on the wall at a board of governors meeting — and if the side-eyed tension between the Knicks and the NBA hasn’t reached Defcon 1, it’s Defcon-something, leading to an intriguing question straight out of 1985: Does the league need (or want) the Knicks to be a juggernaut?

The Knicks haven’t been a championship contender in a quarter century, and, even then, they were an 8-seed that reached the 1999 Finals during a sprint of a lockout season that deserved an asterisk. But, aside from the Linsanity of 2012, the franchise has mostly been known for the meddling Dolan, a front office carousel and now for Dolan’s overt, public distrust of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.

“This is the first time in my years in the league where you really feel like one of our partner teams is not on board with everybody else,” said one board of governors attendee. “For a while, it was a bit comical the Knicks were having this sort of standoff with the league office. But now everybody’s shaking their head around the table saying, ‘What’s their endgame?’”

Everywhere except Dolan’s 26th floor office at 2 Penn Plaza, Silver is universally praised for the league’s 11-year, $77 billion media rights deal that is equally divvied up among the teams and protects them from free-falling local TV rights fees. But Dolan not only voted against that deal, he penned two scathing emails to the BOG essentially questioning Silver’s integrity and deriding the concept of revenue sharing. He has made himself the face of the NBA’s large-market franchises — not that the Lakers’ Jeanie Buss ever asked him to be — while also essentially nominating himself to be the BOG’s conscience, even though he’s resigned from every subcommittee and won’t attend a meeting in person.

But still here Dolan sits, courtside at Knicks games and in the crosshairs at the league office, as his team seems capable of its first championship in 52 seasons and has Madison Avenue standing on its toes to watch. Considering there are also swarms of NBA office employees who are Knicks fans, these are conflicted times inside the league’s Fifth Avenue fortress. Officially, the league has no comment, but, internally, many of them wish they could say what they are thinking:

“If it’s really important for the league to have the Knicks be good, then we’d be out of business. Because it’s been a looong time.”

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As conspiracy theories go, the NBA and the Knicks have been tied at the hip since 1985. The world won’t soon forget it: Envelope-Gate.

When the woebegone 1984-85 Knicks (coached by Hubie Brown) went 24-58, the upside was they’d partake in the league’s inaugural draft lottery. The Houston Rockets were the reason for it all, having openly tanked in 1983 and 1984 to secure Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon, and Commissioner David Stern’s solution was to throw nine envelopes into a bin and pull them out one-by-one to set the draft order. The prize: Georgetown’s All-Stratosphere center Patrick Ewing.

The nine participants in order of ineptitude were the 22-win Warriors, the 22-win Pacers, the 24-win Knicks, the 31-win Clippers, the 31-win Sonics, the 31-win Kings, the 34-win Hawks, the 36-win Cavaliers and the 44-win Mavericks (via trade). Mathematically, everyone had an equal chance. But executives around the league weren’t buying it for one sage and caustic suspicion: The league wanted New York to matter.

At the time, going to Madison Square Garden, the Mecca, was a low-energy prospect. Average attendance was 11,154, while big markets such as Boston (Larry Bird), L.A. (Showtime) and Chicago (with rookie Michael Jordan) were booming. New York needed Ewing to keep up, and the sense was the fix was in. Former Hawks executive Stan Kasten was even quoted in Sports Illustrated as saying a high-ranking team executive told him months before the lottery, “He’s going to the Knicks. It’s all arranged.”

So that was the prevailing sentiment on Envelope Day, where, sure enough, Stern reached into the bin and literally lifted the Knicks out of the abyss. The conspiracy theory is that the New York card had been refrigerated or doctored up with a folded corner — so that Stern could pick it blindly out of the pile. “Bobby Weiss, who is an amateur magician, once told me there’s a dozen ways they could have pulled it off,” said Kasten, who represented the Hawks in person that day. “But I just never bought it. Didn’t buy it then, don’t buy it now.” 

Either way, the Knicks walked away that spring day with Ewing, permeating an old wives’ tale that the NBA and the Knicks were in bed together; that the better the Knicks, the better league business. “Oh, there were a thousand theories on that,” said Tom Wilson, who spent 32 years as a Pistons executive. “The refrigerated envelope, the slightly bent corner. I mean, everybody had one. I just remember watching it on TV, a bunch of us together, and everybody just looking at each other when it comes up Knicks and going, ‘Well, of course it’s New York. Of course.’”

For years, Stern never lived it down, even though he was considered a man of deep-seated ethics. He would say to people, “You’re accusing me of a federal crime?” That would end the conversation, but not the supposition. In ensuing years, as the Knicks battled Jordan and finally reached the 1994 Finals, New York effectively became an epicenter of NBA basketball. Ewing, Spike Lee, Reggie Miller, John Starks, Charles Oakley, et al became Garden legends, all starting with that envelope.

And all ending when James Dolan pulled up a chair.

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As far as anyone can ascertain, Dolan’s father, Charles — whose company, Cablevision, purchased the Knicks in 1994 —maintained an affable persona. His son, Jim, was more of a mystery.

Once he took the day-to-day reins as chairman of the Knicks in 1999, Jim exuded nothing but deep pockets, power and confidence. The team reached the conference finals in May 2000 without a hint of dysfunction, and, as a team executive explained, “It’s taken time to become him.” In other words, there was calm before the litigious storm.

The losing started in the 2001-02 season, a year after Ewing was gone, beginning a run of only four playoff appearances in 19 years. The Knicks were left out of the postseason for one stretch of seven seasons and another spate of eight years out of nine. Former coaches such as Jeff Van Gundy claim Dolan gave him every resource to win, but serenity was not one of them.

The festering, as in when Dolan and the league stopped seeing eye-to-eye, began likely in October 2007. A sexual harassment lawsuit had been filed against Madison Square Garden and team GM Isiah Thomas, and, rather than settle, Dolan and his lawyers let it go to trial. What wasn’t a good look for the league worsened when the court ordered the team to pay $11.6 million to former marketing executive Anucha Browne Sanders. Someone then went and asked Stern about the state of the Knicks franchise.

“It demonstrates that they’re not a model of intelligent management,” Stern began. And, according to insiders, it’s been war in Dolan’s mind ever since.

Whether the grudge is real, Dolan — who, along with other Knicks executives, was not made available for comment — morphed into a contrarian owner who sources said views Commissioner Silver as an extension of the late Stern and votes against any league initiative, whether it’s a proposed budget, the benign election of a board chair or even WNBA expansion. Said an executive from another team: “I think that it’s just personal. Like, personal. [Dolan] doesn’t like him.”

At the heart of it are two core issues — one inherent, one entirely financial. The first, according to former employees and insiders, is that Dolan is combative by nature, having sued another Stern protégé, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, in 2008 for not allowing MSG’s Rangers to operate their own website. They also say the work environment at 2 Penn Plaza is “look over your shoulder,” along with a constant fear that he’ll call, “rip you a new one” or hand over a pink slip.

“When I used to walk into the building every day, I had to pump yourself up — not like I was going to war, but because it wasn’t calming there,” said a former Knicks employee. “Every morning, as you’re going through the little security charge stall, you’re, ‘All right, here we go.’

“All day, you’re just kind of peeking at your phone, waiting. That applies to C-suite, anybody. It’s just so volatile. He is very hard to please, and he just doesn’t seem to be very happy with things, even if they’re going pretty well. So no one there is comfortable in their standing, in their long-term future.”

To hear them tell it, Dolan’s M.O. is to micromanage. He’ll dial executives to complain about the music choice of a Knicks City Dancers routine or a song handpicked for Karaoke Cam or technical difficulties on a game broadcast. Those execs have only one thing in their favor: Their paychecks.

Dolan is said to offer his executives prodigious salaries with stock options and bonuses, partly because it is pricey to live in New York, but also because former employees say he “wouldn’t be able to get anybody any other way.” That probably doesn’t do Dolan complete justice, though. He is known to give his executives carte blanche to pursue their creative ideas no matter the cost — “They’re printing money over there,” one former employee said — and uses his private jet to fly his C-suite to playoff games or to an elaborate annual off-site in Las Vegas. If an executive wants to brand a local park in Knicks or Rangers motif, Dolan greenlights it.

“Jim has high standards,” said a source who’s collaborated with Dolan. “There are some things that Jim does that are absolutely visionary. Look at the Sphere, which was his vision and changed the face of entertainment. But sometimes visionaries are very hard to work for or with. Their single-mindedness, their unwillingness to compromise and their drive can be bumpy, can be a tough assignment.

“He’s executive chairman, right? And there are some executive chairmen who are very passive and some that are very ‘two hands on the wheel.’ Jim is on the latter end of the spectrum.”

Whether that makes it an enticing job or just a tolerable job, there’s no right answer. But facts are facts. Since 2012, Dolan has cycled through MSG presidents Scott O’Neil (now CEO of Merlin Entertainments), Andy Lustgarten (now executive chairman of Hudson Yards Experiences), David Hopkinson (now doing advisory work) and executive producer of MSG Sports Danny Meiseles (now executive producer at DJM Media). The sense is they all stayed just long enough to see their stock options vest — while collecting mid six-figure bonuses annually — then bailed out with a severance package. “The Knicks just burn through people,” said an executive from another team, wishing the best to the team’s current COO and alternate governor Jamaal Lesane, who’s worked for Dolan since 2008.

These executives around the league rubberneck at Dolan from a distance, perplexed by his bombast. Their points of reference are his emails and behind-the-scene grandstanding at BOG meetings, and consensus is he could go about his league business in a more civil way. Insiders say his allies around the league are nonexistent or scarce, though not from his lack of trying.

Sources said there are three factions of owners in the NBA. First is a subset of Silver loyalists, such as the Raptors’ Larry Tanenbaum, the Pacers’ Herb Simon, the Wizards’ Ted Leonsis and the Lakers’ Buss. “They’re going to vote yes on anything he puts forward,” a source said. The next group are tweeners, believed to be newer owners such as Mat Ishbia of the Suns and Ryan Smith of the Jazz — who all generally side with Silver but are still feeling their way and may eventually grow bolder.

But the most intriguing subset are “the rabble-rousers,” led by Dolan and to a much, much, much lesser degree the Hawks’ Tony Ressler, the Kings’ Vivek Ranadivé and maybe the 76ers’ Josh Harris. The difference with Dolan, though — according to multiple sources — is that “Dolan will vote no just to vote no,” whereas Ressler, Ranadivé and Harris just ask pertinent questions.

“I don’t see anyone as a rabble-rouser other than Dolan,” said one BOG source. “Whether it’s Vivek, whether it’s Josh, whether it’s Tony or anybody else that raises questions, it’s to help us think about how we can continuously improve. It’s all with positive intent. On the New York side, it’s all with negative intent, in my opinion.”

In his latest Hail Mary to convert other governors to his side, Dolan sent those two damning letters to the BOG — aimed square at Silver without ever saying Silver’s name. The searing emails, in part, insinuated the league was taking too much money out of the media rights till and needed to be more transparent on leaguewide spending. But, mostly, Dolan was hellbent on aborting Silver’s revenue-sharing policies.

The new media rights deal, for instance, increases the maximum number of games a team can play exclusively on national TV from 12 to 15, taking a chunk out of Dolan’s local TV revenue, in-arena signage and sponsorship money. Considering the Knicks have the most lucrative local TV rights fees in the league other than the Lakers, believed to be in the $100 million-to-$150 million range, he was never voting yes to this media rights deal. Jeanie Buss wasn’t about to be his ally on it, even while losing her own local TV money, so Dolan went scorched earth by his lonesome. He was not going to let Silver take his bow scot-free.

“It was never this bad with David [Stern],” the BOG source said. “For some reason, it’s ratcheted up to a level that it’s never been at before. I mean, [Dolan] would always oppose the revenue-sharing plan, etc., but now they’re against everything. And it doesn’t make sense because look at the Lakers and the Warriors, they’re just as big markets. In some cases, the Warriors are generating more revenue than the Knicks are ticket-wise. And the Warriors and Lakers are on board with how we’re doing everything collectively. So if it can work for those big-market teams, why doesn’t it work for the Knicks?

“Obviously, they have a beef with the league office for some reason — they feel there’s lack of transparency. There’s no lack of transparency. We all have access to anything that we want. The league will share anything financially as it relates to the operations of the league office with all of us. And they have with the audit and finance committee. … It’s never perfect, but our revenue-sharing program works. The small-market teams would like to get more, and the big-market teams would like to give less, but at the end of the day, it’s helped us thrive as a league.”

Either way, Dolan — relaying his dissenting vote through Lesane — made sure the final media rights vote was 29-to-a-loud-1. It was just another Dolan jab at 645 Fifth Avenue. The Knicks, for instance, haven’t traveled internationally with the league since a 2015 game in London. That’s another jab. Sources said league execs have season credentials that grant them entry into every arena in case they have business to conduct — except Madison Square Garden. Dolan, those sources said, has instructed staff members not to do any favors for the league. Jab, jab, jab.

“I’m not saying there’s tension,” said a source who’s dealt with the Knicks. “I think there’s just little eff- you’s.”

The way Dolan sees it, according to those who’ve heard him vent, is that other teams were getting richer through this media rights deal — by sitting on their hands — while he was getting not poorer, but less rich. In the end, it was about haves and have-nots (“There’s always tension between haves and have-nots and, also, definitionally, there’s usually more have-nots than haves,” said a Dolan confidant), and for this upcoming 2024-25 season, Dolan’s Knicks were about be the ultimate “have.”

Ah, but — in the ultimate twist — would Silver and the league benefit?

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So there’s the debate. Forty years after Envelope-Gate, would the league consider freezing a card for the Knicks? Would the Knicks much less ask? Does the league even need the Knicks to be elite? Or is that just a tired 20th century narrative?

League insiders believe the answers are no, no, no and yes, mostly based on the indisputable fact that — while Dolan’s Knicks have wandered through the wilderness across 25 years — the NBA has become a global power with such self-esteem and reach that it doesn’t bat an eye when star rookies like Victor Wembanyama end up in south central Texas. The Knicks played not one iota of a role in that.

“Does the league need the Knicks to do well in terms of day-to-day finances? No, no, no, no,” said a smaller-market team executive. “But it needs healthy major markets, right? It would just be remiss to say you don’t need your major markets to be drivers of the business. Because you need them to be.”

So that’s the flip side of the coin, or the borough. And that is exactly why Dolan and his office staff — plotting their business strategy a mere 1.3 miles away from Silver’s desk — have a payback pep-in-their- step heading into Opening Night. Because not since his dad handed over the reins in 1999 have the Knicks generated legitimate championship buzz.

Best case scenario — now that head of basketball operations Leon Rose has acquired Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns to pair with Jalen Brunson — the Knicks are the NBA version of the Indiana Fever. The more sensible scenario is that their local ratings will exceed the 10% rise they had last season, their national broadcasts will create prohibitive ad sales for current media partners ESPN and Turner, and Madison Avenue will bang on MSG’s door. In fact, the latter is already underway.

“I’ve seen a discernible difference in enthusiasm from the business community and the major agencies across the country, not just in New York, though it certainly is amplified in New York City,” said Craig Sloan, CEO of Playfly Sports, which handles national sales for every NBA team in the U.S. “When New York and Los Angeles — but mostly New York — is flying, so goes the perception of how the entire league goes.

“Then it becomes a sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy of the team becoming buzzworthy in the news, where all marketers and agencies — and most agencies are based here right in Manhattan — they’re reading the same news. They’re hearing the same hype. Their clients ask for tickets: How can I get in? The ticket demand grows, and suddenly it’s an exclusive event. A lot of marketers and agency Madison Avenue folks are Knicks fans. And then other marketers across the country have to pay attention because there’s some connectivity through either their agency or some form of how they’re viewing it.”

The hyperbole may be reality. The Knicks just added a new sponsor of their highbrow celebrity row, Motorola, and a fledgling deal with Lenovo. As of last season, the team’s reported partners were the Sphere (its jersey patch sponsor), the NY Lottery, Coinbase, MSC Cruises, 1800 Tequila, Spectrum, Kia, ESPN Radio, Hub, BetMGM, Ticketmaster, Starry, Michelob Ultra, Chase, DoorDash, Amtrak, Maker’s Mark, Manhattan West, Verizon, Infosys, Caesars Entertainment and Clorox Company. And that list is expected to morph or multiply.

On the sales front, Sloan said the trades for Bridges and Towns “had people talking to us at a higher rate” nationally and in NYC. “Our sales figures are up double digits, earlier than what we’ve seen,” Sloan said. “It’s because of the anticipation, I believe, of the Knicks. Put it this way: When the Knicks were down, there was a perception here that we were having to sell the NBA harder.

“I don’t think we’ve really seen that, as a country, since the Jordan era. I’m not telling you there haven’t been some amazing teams; there’ve been the Warriors winning 70-plus games. But that was a West Coast team, and if most of the country doesn’t see a late game, it’s a different story. But if you get a major market team like the Knicks that has a Red Sox Nation, Cubs Nation feel of ‘We cannot wait,’ I think the anticipatory component of this season is really drawing people in.”

Left and right, league executives past and present are sensing it’s the 1985-to-2000 Ewing era all over again — in fact, Dolan actually just hired Ewing last week to work in the front office as a team ambassador. One rival team exec looked at the bright side and said at least his jersey patch sponsor will appreciate the mega-exposure at the Garden. Every team in the league smacks their lips over that.

“I can’t believe the league would say with a straight face they don’t need the Knicks to be good. Come on, really?” said a source who knows Dolan well. “I think this shows that when you get it right, it can be magical. That even if he’s had some bumps along the way and some periods where it wasn’t going great, you can self-help and you can fix it. And when you get it right, it unlocks everything in your business.’’

Then again, it’s a different NBA than the ’90s, a $77 billion NBA. “The league has become the story, not individual teams,” Wilson said, and — speaking in just general terms about the NBA’s evolution — Evan Wasch, league EVP of basketball strategy and analytics, said, “Adam’s talked a lot about this, as we’ve seen with our top star players, you don’t need to be in a New York or L.A. or Chicago anymore to have that global impact.”

But the more things change, perhaps the more they stay … 1985. “When the Knicks were good back then, reality was it made everything better,” Wilson said. “Their persona was 10X larger than anybody else, which, of course, led to all these conspiracy theories about them getting calls from the refs. Oh God, don’t remind me.”

Don’t remind the 2024 teams, either: “They still get all the effin’ calls,” said a rival executive. “[But] it’s all about eyeballs. Is Caitlin Clark good for women’s basketball? Of course she is. So the Knicks will be good for the men’s basketball. As much as I hate to say it.”

Perhaps the league hates to hear it, or maybe not. But little did the NBA and the Knicks know, they’re kind of/sort of back in bed together. Even the league’s new start-of-season “Tip Off” promotion features random Knicks fans saying, “Go New York, Go New York, Go.” Chief Marketing Officer Tammy Henault called it an “Easter egg” moment within the commercial, a nuanced surprise, while others would perhaps call it a mea culpa, or an unintentional admission that, yes, a juggernaut Knicks team maybe, maybe, maybe does levitate the league.

No one will probably ever admit that, not at 2 Penn Plaza or 645 Fifth Avenue. But if Silver has to present Dolan with the Larry O’Brien Trophy come June, grab your popcorn.