The New York Knicks’ ticker-tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes was, as expected, a historic celebration for millions of fans who’ve waited for over five decades. But what should have been a ceremonial handoff turned into a public rebuke between team ownership and city leadership. A long-brewing feud between NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Knicks owner James Dolan suddenly took center stage at City Hall at the official “Keys to the City” presentation.

While players and coaches enthusiastically celebrated the franchise’s first NBA title in 53 years, the tension reached its peak when Mamdani handed the keys to the franchise’s executives. Dolan awkwardly approached to accept his key. Now, while players like Finals MVP Jalen Brunson posed for pictures with Mamdani, Dolan visibly kept his distance, shaking the mayor’s hand and grabbing the key from across the table instead of stepping closer.

Once the Knicks owner got the key, he immediately returned to his seat, skipping the standard photo op. Plenty of cameras captured the awkwardness. Mamdani forced a smile, but Dolan had more than half his back turned to the audience. Many noticed that even Quentin, one of his sons, snubbed Mamdani on the stage.

Everyone who saw the videos online agreed it was a deliberate move by Dolan. Thousands of comments on social media are indicative of that. It appeared to set a stark tone, which the Knicks owner immediately amplified when he stepped up to the microphone.

The team’s first title since 1973 made this parade a once-in-a-generation moment for a city starved for basketball glory. Mamdani dropped an explosive speech first that detailed the team’s grueling road to the championship and shouted out beloved former players like Charles Oakley, who is banned from MSG and the Knicks community amid litigation against the Knicks owner. When it was Dolan’s turn to speak, he fired a pointed, short message to the crowd.

“I don’t need your vote,” Dolan told the New Yorkers. “I don’t need to quote to you what happened. If you’re real Knicks fans, you know it already. Thank you for supporting our team. We’re going to keep working to bring you even better basketball. Although it’s hard to imagine that we’ll get much better than this. But we will.”

The comment was widely interpreted as a direct swipe at Mamdani’s speech, the mention of Oakley, and the shockingly public friction between the city and the franchise during the postseason. Before we get to what happened during the Finals, though, this isn’t the first time there’s tension between Dolan and the Mayor. A year ago, the Knicks had issued (then-candidate) Mamdani a “cease and desist” letter for using its iconic logo in a campaign advertisement.

The ad aired during the NBA team’s season opener and featured an altered Knicks orange-and-blue logo that replaced the word “Knicks” with “Zohran.” Those ads were eventually removed, but a Knicks spokesperson took a strong stand on record.

“The Knicks want to make it clear that we do not endorse Mr. Mamdani for Mayor, and we object to his use of our copyrighted logo,” the spokesperson commented to The Post. “We will pursue all legal remedies to enforce our rights.”

That said, months later, there was more back-and-forth between the two of them.

What was the disagreement between James Dolan and the Mayor that played out at the parade?

The awkward display at City Hall was the direct culmination of a public dispute that went on during the closing week of the Finals. Tensions rose before Game 4 against the San Antonio Spurs, when the city imposed heavy security restrictions around Madison Square Garden.

Brawls after each Knicks win forced the city to tighten security, especially when Donald Trump attended Game 3 of the Finals, including canceling a massive outdoor watch party in the plaza. And even though the president skipped Game 4, NYPD and city officials didn’t loosen up on the restrictions after getting a glimpse of the riots.

The city maintained the ‘frozen zone’ around Madison Square Garden, barring ticketless fans from gathering nearby. James Dolan then publicly blamed Zohran Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch for the disruption, issuing an official statement labeling them the city’s “biggest party poopers” and claiming the Mayor was not a Knicks fan. Ten days later, Dolan’s speech at the parade sounded like a direct callback to that.

At the time, Mamdani fired back on social media, noting the city approved a 999-fan permit but Dolan himself canceled the event…

Mamdani wrote on X that while the cancellation broke hearts, “Knicks fans don’t need permission for showing up for our team.”

This underlying friction cast a long shadow over an otherwise historic day, which also saw an estimated two million people flood Lower Manhattan. Despite the clear divide on display between Knicks ownership and City Hall, the day concluded as a monumental success for the city, cementing a legendary season that finally brought the Larry O’Brien Trophy back to Manhattan.