For a minute there, the feud between New York Knicks owners James Dolan and former Knick great Charles Oakley appeared unresolvable.
Dolan and Oakley nearly came to blows last week at Madison Square Garden, resulting in Oakley being banned from the building. And even after fans and players sided overwhelmingly with Oakley, Dolan refused to meet with the former power forward.
In order to overcome all that bad blood, the NBA is reportedly bringing in a real power duo to mediate the dispute.
According to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, Adam Silver and Michael Jordan will get Oakley and Dolan together on a conference call, maybe as soon as Monday or Tuesday.
Silver, as NBA commissioner, likely has a relationship with both men, and Jordan can relate to each of them—Oakley as a 90s NBA star and Dolan as a failed owner. If these two can’t work things out between Oakley and Dolan, it’s probably hopeless.
It makes sense that the NBA would go out of its way to get this situation resolved amicably. The whole ordeal is awfully embarrassing for the Knicks and therefore for the NBA. The best outcome for everyone involved would probably be for Dolan to just sell the team, but since that won’t happen anytime soon, mediation is probably as good as we’re going to get.
