The Knicks keep Knicksing, publicly burning bridges with their most famous and devoted fan — the filthy cherry on top of this trash season.
The New York Knicks are 19-42 and have already fired both their coach and team president this season. They have were shunned this summer by several of the NBA’s biggest free agents and Kevin Durant added insult to injury by making clear he avoided them because they’re “not cool.” They are at the trapped at the bottom of an industrial cement well and somehow, with teeth and skin and fingernails, they continue to scrape their way deeper, to a new rock bottom and all the toxic waste buried beneath.
Their latest excavation involves publicly inflaming a feud with Spike Lee, one of their most notable and longest-suffering fans. It started on Monday evening when Lee was asked to leave Madison Square Garden by security after using an employee entrance, one he says he’s been using for nearly three decades.
The Knicks then took the bold step of releasing a statement to refuting the basic particulars of Lee’s story. The tone was strangely confrontational and self-righteous for an organization that has found a way to step on pretty much every rake in its vicinity over the past few years.
Lee then spoke to The New York Times’ Sopan Deb to set the record straighter.
Deb shared some other snippets from his conversation with Lee, including, “I’ll tell you one thing. I heard from the Brooklyn Nets,” and, “what’s laughable is how the Knicks are the laughingstock of the league in sports. That’s what’s f***ing laughable.”
Lee has said he will not attend any other Knicks’ home games this season but will return next year. He has also said that he’s not interested in finding another team to root for. Given James Dolan’s predilection for vindictive buffoonery and public relations disasters there could be several more face-palming twists to this story.