It has been nearly 10 years since Charles Oakley, the beloved Knicks enforcer from the 1990s, was forced out of his courtside seat at Madison Square Garden while fans chanted his name, then arrested as he protested.
A war of words with the team’s owner, James Dolan, followed, Mr. Oakley was briefly barred from the arena and he sued. That ban is no longer in place, but the lawsuit continues. And Mr. Oakley has not been back to the Garden since then.
Now, as the Knicks have made a thrilling run to the N.B.A. finals, he has mostly watched from afar.
“It’s a situation that should have been solved a long time ago from the guy who owns the team,” Mr. Oakley said, accusing Mr. Dolan of “running a plantation.”
The team has long employed a slogan, “Once a Knick, always a Knick,” to celebrate its former players.
At Madison Square Garden, the alumni sit close to the court where they once competed, feted with boisterous cheers from fans when they appear on video screens. Some, including Patrick Ewing and John Starks, are paid ambassadors of the team.
But in an interview last week, Mr. Oakley said he had no plans to return to the Garden to watch the finals. On Wednesday, the Knicks won the first matchup in the best-of-seven series against the Spurs in San Antonio. The series will shift to New York for Game 3 on Monday and Game 4 on Wednesday.
Mr. Oakley did not say under which conditions he would consider being there.
“He started it, he can make it go away,” Mr. Oakley said of Mr. Dolan. “He’s the boss.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. Dolan declined to comment for this article.
The legal battle began on Feb. 8, 2017, when Mr. Oakley was handcuffed, arrested and removed from a Knicks game against the Los Angeles Clippers after getting into an altercation with security guards. He said Mr. Dolan, who was seated several rows away, ordered the guards to eject him.
Days later, Mr. Dolan barred Mr. Oakley from the arena and accused him of acting abusively, and of being an alcoholic — an accusation that still bothers Mr. Oakley. A public outcry followed: The Rev. Al Sharpton demanded Mr. Dolan lift the ban, and N.B.A. players, including LeBron James and Chris Paul, rallied to Mr. Oakley’s defense.
The charges against Mr. Oakley — which included third-degree assault — were later dismissed on the condition he not return to the arena for one year. Later in 2017, he sued Mr. Dolan, Madison Square Garden and two other companies owned by Mr. Dolan in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
The episode at the Garden marked a new low point for the Knicks and Mr. Dolan. Within days, the commissioner of the N.B.A., Adam Silver, tried to broker a peace between Mr. Oakley and Mr. Dolan, in a meeting Michael Jordan attended via telephone.
Mr. Oakley said he has not spoken with Mr. Dolan since that meeting. During a news conference before Game 1 of the finals on Wednesday, Mr. Silver called the conflict between the two men “unfortunate for the N.B.A.”
“I tried my best,” Mr. Silver said.
Mr. Oakley began his career with the Chicago Bulls in 1985 and joined the Knicks in 1988. He was a rugged defensive player who embodied the Knicks’ ethos of physical and mental toughness. He committed hard fouls, chased rebounds and got in opponents’ faces.
In retirement, Mr. Oakley became a vocal critic of the team as it struggled under Mr. Dolan, who took over as the Knicks’ owner in 1999, one year after Mr. Oakley left the team.
He was upset that the Knicks did not offer him a job, as they had for other former players, and complained that the team had stopped giving him free tickets to home games, which he noted in his lawsuit.
In 2017, The New York Times reported the accounts of fans sitting near Mr. Oakley during the incident at the Garden. A number said they didn’t see anything wrong with his behavior, while some fans said he had been acting combatively.
Mr. Oakley, in his lawsuit, said that he was minding his own business when he was approached by three “large men” who instructed him to leave the arena. He asked why he was being ordered to leave, and pushed the guards back when they tried to grab him. He was then dragged to the ground, according to his lawsuit, and escorted away.
Mr. Dolan’s lawyers have countered that Mr. Oakley had a history of acting abusively toward security officers, and that night was no different. Before he was removed from Madison Square Garden, they have written in court filings, Mr. Oakley had been yelling at security guards.
During an interview with Michael Kay on ESPN Radio days later in 2017, Mr. Dolan said Mr. Oakley had showed up to the arena intent on being disruptive. He also suggested that Mr. Oakley had a drinking problem and should seek anger management counseling.
“We need to keep the Garden a place that’s comfortable and safe for everybody who goes there,” Mr. Dolan said.
Madison Square Garden’s lawyers have accused Mr. Oakley of deleting relevant text messages from his phone after the incident. A federal judge agreed with them and last year ordered Mr. Oakley to pay more than $600,000 in legal fees for the defense. Mr. Dolan is no longer named as a defendant.
Despite his legal fight, Mr. Oakley has been backing the team along its postseason run. The Knicks have blazed through the playoffs, winning the last 12 games in a row.
During a first-round series against the Hawks, Mr. Oakley saw the Knicks once in Atlanta, where he lives. He also saw them once in Cleveland, his hometown, for an Eastern Conference finals game. He said he didn’t speak to any of the former Knicks who were at the Cleveland game with the blessing of the franchise.
“They can’t talk to me with the owner in the building,” Mr. Oakley said.
In Cleveland, he posed for photos with two celebrities who are die-hard Knicks fans, Tracy Morgan and Spike Lee.
“Tracy almost started crying,” Mr. Oakley said, explaining that Mr. Morgan “broke down that I couldn’t be” at the Garden.
Mr. Morgan’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Oakley said he has enjoyed watching the play and leadership of the Knicks star Jalen Brunson, who delivered clutch baskets in the Knicks’ Game 1 victory.
“Even though me and the owner are in a dispute, I hope the team has success, especially for the city of New York,” he said. “They’ve been waiting for it.”
Tania Ganguli writes about money, power and influence in sports and how it impacts the broader culture.
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