New York Knicks owner James Dolan took a jab at Mayor Zohran Mamdani in a victory speech after his team clinched the NBA championship.
“I don’t need your vote,” said Dolan, who spoke directly after Mamdani at a Thursday event. “I don’t need to quote to you about what happened here, because if you’re real Knicks fans, you know it already.”
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Dolan also owns Madison Square Garden, the venue where the Knicks play. The billionaire and democratic socialist mayor have clashed on several issues in the past.
Immediately before Dolan spoke, Mamdani delivered a sweeping invocation where he rattled off highlights from Knicks history. The mayor cited Willis Reed’s impressive performance at the 1970 NBA championship with a leg injury and 5-foot-9-inch guard Nate Robinson blocking a shot from 7-foot-6-inch Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, among other events.
“We waited without ever knowing if this day would come, and we waited because we knew, deep down in our sick, suffering hearts, that it would,” Mamdani declared.
Mamdani also paid tribute to power forward Charles Oakley, who he said “pulled every rebound within reach.” Oakley and Dolan are embroiled in a nearly decade-long feud after Oakley was ejected from Madison Square Garden following a confrontation with security guards. Oakley unsuccessfully sued for defamation, with a judge ordering him to recoup $642,000 in legal fees to the venue.
Mamdani and Dolan have previously sparred on a number of issues. The Knicks sent Mamdani a cease and desist letter in 2025 when the then-candidate appropriated their orange and blue logo for a campaign ad.
Ahead of Game 4 of the NBA Finals last Wednesday, the Knicks called Mamdani and New York City Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch the city’s “biggest party poopers” for security restrictions at a watch party.
Former Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, who now occasionally sides with Mamdani, said Madison Square Garden should lose its property tax exemption over Dolan’s comments.
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“I’m coming after you now for sure,” Sliwa said in a social media video. “I’ll have the mayor on my side to make you pay your property taxes. $48 million a year. I think finally the mayor may say, ‘Yeah, let’s tax that rich guy who blasphemed me.’”
The Knicks announced Wednesday that they accepted an invitation to visit the White House from President Donald Trump, the only NBA team to do so during his two terms.
