Despite being the highest-valued team in the NBA, the New York Knicks have long been seen as a disorganized mess. With no championships in the last 40 years, the team has suffered mightily from the poor decision-making and management of owner James Dolan.
Hard-core fans will recognize the name, as Dolan has long been criticized for his role in the team’s dysfunction. But a new report from MSG analyst Jonathan Boyar says that Dolan could actually be close to selling the team.
“The enterprise value is about $4.7 billion. The Knicks were just valued at about $6 billion. So essentially, you’re getting paid to own the Rangers/Knicks. Their sister company, MSG entertainment, is currently about to finish a project in Las Vegas called ‘the sphere’ and we think it’s likely that after that is done, James Dolan, who controls the company, will sell the teams…”
“We think it’s likely that after that is done, James Dolan, who controls the company, will sell the teams”
— Longtime MSG analyst Jonathan Boyar tells CNBC that Knicks & Rangers parent MSG Sports likely to sell after Vegas concert venue MSG Sphere is completed next year pic.twitter.com/p9eP5geBZn
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) August 16, 2022
There have been many calls for Dolan’s exile, but he hasn’t done enough to warrant any kind of forced sell by the league. Still, his presence on the franchise alone has turned off many star players to the idea of joining the Knicks — even LeBron James.
According to Oakley, James once told him that Dolan was the reason he’d never consider becoming a Knick.
“You would have thought I did something to his wife,” Knicks legend Charles Oakley wrote. “Sh–, Latrell Sprewell, who played five seasons with the Knicks, cursed at Dolan in front of Dolan’s wife when he returned to face the Knicks back in 2003, and they still became friends. I didn’t do anything to this man. What did I ever say that was so bad that he would ignore me like that? I wondered. Man, I wanted to hit him in the head. I walked back to LeBron and said, ‘This mother—er (Dolan) wouldn’t shake my hand,'” Oakley continued. “All LeBron said was: ‘This is why I’m never going to New York.'”
All-in-all, this is exactly what Knicks fans around the world have been praying for. If Dolan sells, it opens up the possibility for other big-name billionaires to take his place.
That might be all the franchise needs to get back on track and finally end this decades-long struggle.
