Knicks Fans Got Kicked Out of MSG for Chanting "Sell the Team"

Lots of franchises lose lots of games in the NBA.

Five teams currently have 19 wins or less, including the Atlanta Hawks, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Golden State Warriors and the New York Knicks. Four of those teams have managed to coast through the season; fans (and press) gave up on them before the holidays. But that’s not the case for the Knickerbockers. It’s not enough for the team to just lose games — thanks to the actions of pesky (unmitigated asshole) owner James Dolan, the franchise is losing any shred of dignity or decency it had left.

See here:

Fans were escorted out of MSG after chanting "sell the team" 😳 (via tom_rochh/Instagram) pic.twitter.com/hTz5vJH6Zu

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 5, 2020

Were these guys really just chanting “sell the team?” Maybe not. Does it matter? When Dolan berated 73-year-old, lifelong Knicks fan Irving Bierman in 2015, (wildly accusing Bierman of being an alcoholic, and instructing him to “root for the Nets because the Knicks don’t want you”) the owner made his stance on dissenters abundantly clear.

Still, the circus is getting crazier. Last year, after a fan yelled “sell the team,” Dolan reportedly threatened to ban him. And earlier this week, beloved Knicks superfan Spike Lee, who would’ve normally shown up to a Knicks game even if guaranteed coronavirus, was a target of an MSG entrance controversy (Who in their right mind cares what door Spike walks through? Build the man his own private tunnel from Fort Greene.) and the worst tweet by a sports PR team since the Houston Astros blamed a female beat writer for doing her job.

Spike has now sworn off the Knicks until next year, while another Dolan-nemesis, Charles Oakley, just called the franchise a “plantation.”

Is there any hope? The only thing that can save Knicks fans now is a deus ex machina solution from Commissioner Adam Silver. The Knicks are still the most valuable team in the NBA, somehow, at $4.6 billion, which is a good thing. The property means a ton to the League, and could fetch a ton for Dolan. Keep chanting, keep getting tossed out, and hopefully the situation gets embarrassing enough that Silver and others initiate some prodding behind closed doors.

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