MANI PETTY
Bitter Oakley now nailing old Knicks
NEW ORLEANS — When Knicks owner James Dolan left his meeting with Charles Oakley on Monday at the NBA commissioner’s office, he felt the Knicks legend would be his Garden guest in two, three weeks.
Now it looks like Oakley isn’t coming back for two, three years — at least.
The former power forward carried his grudge even further Friday — nine days after his ejection and arrest from the Garden after he allegedly cursed at Knicks staffers and security — lashing out at his former teammates and other ex-Knicks.
He apparently did not appreciate Latrell Sprewell, Bernard King and Larry Johnson turning their backs on him by sitting with Dolan at a recent game.
“I can’t respect Sprewell,” Oakley said. “These guys were flown in town to make [Dolan] look good. I can’t respect those guys no more.”
The silence of former compadre Patrick Ewing also got him going.
“Any time for Patrick [Ewing] to speak up, you think this would be it,” Oakley told Mikee Wise of The Undefeated. “He was my closest teammate who played with me.”
The olive branch Dolan extended in lifting his ban has been snapped by the mighty Oak to the shock and dismay of the Garden. Officials at the Garden have declined to comment onn Oakley’s tirades in the aftermath of his meeting with commissioner Adam Silver and Dolan.
“They’re trying to sweep this under the rug,” Oakley told Wise. “I gotta think about this. Theyy tried to tell me, ‘Let’s get some understanding around this.’ I told them in the meeting, ‘ My understanding is it might be three, four, five years before I come to a con-clusion how I feel about going back in the Garden. I’m not just going back in the Garden because you want to honor me.’
“Shoulda been done already, right? Why do we always have to wait for somethin’ bad to happen to get honored? They makin’ it look like I want something out of them. No. My thing is, ‘ You slandered my name.’ A Charles Oakley Day isn’t going to fix that.”
Oakley appears to have gotten something out of the public brouhaha, as he signed a contract Friday to be part of Ice Cube’s new 3-on-3 pro basketball league, joining a team called the Killer 3s. He will be able to take his attack game onto the court again.
He still is getting support from players at NBA All-Star Weekend in New Orleans, where a source said he is headed. However, Warriors All-Star Draymond Green, who said Dolan acted with a “slave-master mentality,” backed off Friday, admitting his criticism “came off the wrong way.”
Green, a fellow tough guy, said he and Oakley have not met.
“It’s a brotherhood,’’ Green said. “Former players, players today, it’s a brotherhood. We look at this as a fraternity. We get a chance to be a part of a special fraternity. We don’t take that for granted. It’s important. It means a lot. It’s important that guys stick together.”
Meanwhile, union executive director Michele Roberts, at her press conference announcing the official completion of the league’s new collective bargaining agreement, said she still has a soft spot for Oakley. She was raised a Knicks fan in New York.
“I welled up when I saw what happened to Oak,” Roberts said. “Of course I was affected by that.”
Oakley, who employed racial rhetoric in a separate interview Thursday, also took a shot at Silver. Oakley said he feels Silver “tricked” him into Monday’s meeting with Dolan, though Oakley’s handlers called for the meet.
The longer Oakley carries on his war with Dolan, the less sympathy he figures to muster, especially with the belief Dolan was ready to have him make appearances on the Knicks’ behalf.
Silver, for his part, will address the Oakley-Dolan feud at his State of the NBA Address on Saturday, but is said to be dismayed by the turn of events.
Green had said no free agents will come to the Knicks after this, but didn’t back it up in New Orleans.
“I’m not sure how people view them,” Green said. “I don’t really know everyone else’s opinions or views around the league. I’m in the locker room with 14 guys. I know their views because we talk a lot, but I don’t know everyone else’s.”
The Hornets’ Kemba Walker, a Bronx native who is making his first appearance at the All-Star Game, thought the matter already had been solved after reports of a truce being near.
“For any basketball fan — I’m from New York — any fan, that was tough to watch,” Walker said.