OKLAHOMA CITY — While Charles Oakley may be headed to the Big Easy for All-Star Weekend, he has left New York for his home in Cleveland without staging his press conference.
According to a person close to Oakley, the ex-Knicks legend has yet to change his mind on his decision to decline owner James Dolan’s invitation to the Garden. Oakley, according to that person, is holding out hope the organization will release a remorseful public statement apologizing to him and the fans.
Oakley is not as upset over the ejection/arrest but the aftermath. On Friday, Dolan officially banned the former Knick from the arena and the owner went on radio Friday, suggesting Oakley may have an alcohol problem, an anger-management issue and is a danger to the public.
Oakley had said on ESPN Radio Tuesday he hoped Dolan would appear at a press conference to apologize, but that may no longer be necessary.
The Garden continues to remain quiet other than to acknowledge the ban has been lifted after Oakley and Dolan met with commissioner Adam Silver on Monday.
Meanwhile, Warriors All-Star enforcer Draymond Green went on the attack Wednesday, saying Dolan displayed a “slave mentality’’ in handling the Oakley crisis.
Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams, who held a press conference on Oakley’s behalf, also is not satisfied this has been resolved satisfactorily.
A spokesman for Adams told The Post Adams is still “actively monitoring the situation’’ and wants to ensure the Garden will drop the charges against Oakley. NYPD charged Oakley with three counts of assault stemming from the Feb. 8 incident in which he tussled with security guards after cursing them out.
The spokesman said the borough president is still interested in talking to the Garden about “de-escalation training,’’ suggesting the security force went overboard in ejecting Oakley without warning.
Following the lead of NBA stars LeBron James and Chris Paul, Green spoke out against the Knicks.
“It wasn’t a problem when he was protecting [the Knicks’] superstars then,” Green said on his “Dray Day” podcast. “So if it wasn’t a problem then when he was doing it for y’all, why is it all of a sudden a problem now when he speak out on something that he don’t like, and now you want to disown him from your entire organization? That’s a slave mentality. A slave-master mentality.”
Green also took issue with the Knicks’ initial statement.
“As an organization, can you come out and say, ‘We hope he get help?’ Get help with what?” Green said. “That’s not something that you say to the world. That’s not classy at all. If he does have an anger problem and he was OK with the world knowing that, he’d be speaking out about it. He’d be on boards of anger-management type things.”
SEE ALSO
Oakley won't accept end of MSG ban until Dolan shamed publicly 0:0 Well, so much for that happy ending between Knicks legend…
Oakley did not return messages Wednesday but he had plans to appear Sunday at the annual retired players luncheon during All-Star Weekend. He told The Post on Saturday he was particularly annoyed at Dolan about the alcohol accusations because he works at a treatment centers in Florida with his friend Jayson Williams, the ex-Net who has battled the disease. They are staging a charity golf event in May for the Rebound Institute, which helps alcoholics who don’t have the funds to pay for treatment.
“Dolan might think because I go to volunteer at Rebound Institute treatment centers with Jayson that I’m a client,’’ Oakley told The Post. “I’m just supporting the amazing work Jayson is doing. I’m not an alcoholic, but Jayson is.’’
Green was relentless when talking about what he perceived as Dolan’s disrespect toward Oakley.
“Oakley is a legend,’’ Green said. “Treat him as such. “Why is [Oakley] buying a ticket to a game, first off? … It was all fine and dandy when he was laying people out, taking fines, and all this stuff for your organization.”
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
