Former New York Knicks star Charles Oakley was known as a bruising defender and rebounder during his 19-year National Basketball Association career. He’s still throwing elbows.
Oakley stepped up his feud with team owner James Dolan, claiming in a lawsuit Tuesday that he was defamed when he was thrown out of a game in February and subjected to a coordinated smear campaign afterward.
Oakley was escorted out by security as the Knicks were playing the Los Angeles Clippers. He was arrested, charged with assault and banned indefinitely from the arena. According to the suit, Dolan then launched a public relations campaign against Oakley, accusing him of abusing fans and staff, acting inappropriately and "struggling with alcoholism" in order to "denigrate his standings among Knicks fans."
"As he did throughout his playing career, Mr. Oakley has refused to walk to the bench in shame," Oakley’s lawyers said in the complaint. "Instead, holding his head up high, Mr. Oakley files this complaint to set the record straight and to hold defendants responsible for their reprehensible conduct."
Madison Square Gardens officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Oakley, 53, a power forward, was with the Knicks for a decade, earning a spot on the All-Star team in the 1993-94 season and helping lead them to the finals that year. His ejection played out live on television and led to a public battle between him and Dolan. Oakley last month came to an agreement with prosecutors that would have the charges against him dropped if he isn’t arrested within six months.
The case is Charles Oakley v. James Dolan, 17-cv-06903, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan.)
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.