Thirty-two years ago, the New York Knicks had a defensive enforcer on their roster who helped the team to the 1994 NBA Finals. For ten years, he was the star at Madison Square Garden. But for a decade now, he has been an outlier. After years of alienation from the team, Charles Oakley finally sat down with the team’s owner, James Dolan, to watch the team compete in 2017. But suddenly, the atmosphere changed.

As the crowd chanted “Oakley, Oakley!,” the police removed him from the arena. Surprisingly, many present around them believed that nothing had happened between him and Dolan. Yet, he was charged with three counts of third-degree assault and one count of criminal trespass. That was the last time he ever stepped into MSG despite the order being removed. And while NBA Commissioner Adam Silver claims efforts had been made to resolve the issue, Oakley has spoken to bust the myth.

“I want to talk about the commissioner lying again,” Oakley said on TMZ Sports’ Open Mike. “The commissioner talking about him and Michael Jordan. Well, he throwing Michael Jordan under the bus. That’s what he really doing. He’s trying to have a conversation like they just talked yesterday.

“He coming back from 2017 when we met with that guy from New York, Michael, and himself. He acting like he solved a problem. He went to the public in 2017 and said we met and we came to an agreement that it’s over with. Now he gets to make another statement about that but you never solved the problem in 2017. ‘Cause it’s years later now and it’s still going on.”

Turned out, back in 2017, Oakley said something to a guard he had been eyeing the entire night. As the spectators wondered what had happened, considering he had barely shared a word with Dolan, Oakley was put into handcuffs. And the current dispute stems from his arrest and ejection from MSG, with the case still active in its ninth year, involving multiple dismissals, reinstatements, extensive filings, and legal costs. But Oakley addressed the feud again because of what Silver mentioned.

As the Knicks have returned to the NBA Finals after decades, Silver made a statement before Game 1 when the fans noticed the franchise’s enforcer was missing from the stands.

“It is a shame,” said the commissioner before the NBA Finals Game 1. “I tried, Michael Jordan tried, to broker peace between Charles Oakley & Jim Dolan. Our efforts were unsuccessful. I think it’s unfortunate for the NBA that this is an ongoing situation, but it’s currently wrapped up in litigation. I tried my best; I don’t really see anything else I can do at the moment”.

However, not only did Oakley take offense at what Silver said, but also at how he brought in Michael Jordan.

The two shared time during their Chicago Bulls tenure. A reason why Jordan tried to fulfill the formality and talk to Oakley and Dolan to resolve the differences. However, he came with his own limitations.

Jordan had already bought a stake in the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets. So even when he talked to Oakley, he spoke as another team owner trying to help. He couldn’t even come to the meeting, actually, and tried to talk it out over a call with Dolan, Silver, and Oakley present in a room. So, Silver putting Michael Jordan in such an awkward situation was already unwelcome by Oakley. It only got worse with Silver trying to stay neutral. But it didn’t have anything on the former forward.

“No, he’s lying again. It’s two times in this case he lied about. He lied then about what happened. He lying now that like, he talking like they talked two days ago. No, he didn’t. I haven’t talked to James. I’ve been to court with James, and we tried to settle it and he said no. So this just been a whole thing of they ain’t blackballing me from the NBA.”

James Dolan buried the hatchet with New York sports fan Spike Lee at Game 4 between the Knicks and Cavaliers. He’s also reconciled with other players he’s feuded with in the past. But with him and Oakley tied up in litigation, no resolution seems in sight. Diehard Knicks fans feel his absence keenly, as the team is back in the Finals after 27 years. But while there are not many owner-player feuds in the NBA, the Knicks were known to be carrying grudges.

In fact, while Oakley was already facing problems with the owner, President Phil Jackson was also in a separate feud with their star player at the time, Carmelo Anthony. However, the two buried the hatchet a long time ago. Oakley, meanwhile, was given an invitation last year but refused to attend any Knicks game at MSG. He just might continue to do so unless Dolan publicly apologizes for the manner in which the situation was escalated and is being treated even now.

Charles Oakley feels Adam Silver is using Michael Jordan as a shield

Today, Oakley claims that the 2017 mediation was the only time Silver intervened with Michael Jordan’s help. He alleges that the Commissioner has an agenda behind pretending he and MJ spoke to him as recently as yesterday. In fact, there were several instances where he was entirely iced out by the NBA, contrasting his treatment with that of non-players.

Exclusions from the legends dinner, luncheons, and celebrity games at multiple All-Star Weekends were just the beginning.

“The next year in Utah, they had my picture on the board. Then the next year after that, they went to Indiana. Michael Epps got assets for the whole weekend. He ain’t play basketball.”

The defensive enforcer, who spent 10 of his 19 NBA seasons as the Knicks’ frontcourt anchor, called the league’s hypocrisy “embarrassing,” noting he spent thousands of dollars staying in New York at Silver’s request in 2017 only to be denied even a simple ticket at subsequent All-Star weekends.

Fallouts with other NBA players like Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, and others are seemingly collateral damage of the Dolan feud. But his friendship with former teammate turned rival, Michael Jordan, remains intact. Ultimately, Oakley maintains that invoking Jordan’s name is a deflection tactic by Silver to shield the league’s owners.

“For him to call Michael Jordan was bad from the get-go for the incident,” Oakley concluded. “And I said, ‘Why you ain’t call the owners? What you know, Michael Jordan? That’s my friend. I know he’s an owner, but I think, you know, he’s throwing his name back out there again.’ So, it’s just a lot going on. A lot of lying going on.”

Whether Oakley’s allegations are true or not is unclear. He is not actively feuding with the league itself. But his beef with Dolan will likely not end before these NBA Finals.