Zohran Mamdani stepped up and delivered a rousing speech following the New York Knicks' championship parade — although James Dolan might not have liked it.
On Thursday (June 18), the New York City mayor took to the podium and highlighted the contributions of former beloved players, including Charles Oakley, who is allegedly unable to attend games at Madison Square Garden because of a ban put in place by team owner Dolan.
With Dolan seated right behind him, Mamdani brought up the likes of Walt "Clyde" Frazier, John Starks, Patrick Ewing and Bernard King, before then mentioning Oakley. "As Charles Oakley pulled every rebound within reach," he said around the 1:03 mark in the video below, drawing cheers from the crowd.
While Mamdani could have been simply honoring the legends throughout Knicks history, some believe he referenced Oakley to deliberately get under Dolan’s skin.
The speech could have also served as proof of Mamdani's Knicks fandom after Dolan previously claimed the mayor was "not a Knick fan" during an appearance on local radio station WFAN.
Dolan seemingly responded to Mamdani flexing his Knicks knowledge when he took the podium, saying: "I don’t need your vote. I don’t need to quote to you about what happened here, because if you’re real Knick fans, you know it already."
Mamdani and Dolan have been publicly at odds ever since the Knicks owner nearly killed the good vibes throughout the city with his WFAN appearance during the 2026 NBA Finals.
Dolan tried to blame the cancelled watch parties around Madison Square Garden for Game 4 on Mamdani and the NYPD, claiming their extensive security restrictions were preventing thousands of Knicks fans from attending.
In response, Mamdani said MSG requested a permit for a watch party for 500-999 people, and the highest possible number was approved. Dolan was admittedly aware that thousands would attend, so why would MSG limit the requested amount to a maximum of 999 people?
Mamdani claimed Dolan cancelled the watch party outside of MSG.
What’s clear from this last week or so is that Mamdani is now on Dolan's bad side, a situation that Oakley knows about all too well.
Oakley was escorted out of Madison Square Garden in handcuffs in 2017 following a physical altercation with arena security, as Dolan sat a few rows away. Oakley later sued MSG and Dolan over the incident, but the legal battle remains unresolved.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver recently said he and Michael Jordan "tried their best to broker peace," but they were unsuccessful.
