The Last Enforcer, page 23
I said, “Fuck that.” Larry is still my guy, but that bothered me.
I never played with Latrell, so I didn’t have much use for him anyway. But he knew what he was doing by attending that game and sitting with Dolan. A few days after the game I saw Sprewell in the airport. He went a long way to avoid running into me.
About a year later, we were together at a memorabilia event, signing stuff in a back room. Sprewell was talking to O. J. Anderson, the former New York Giants running back. When Spree said, “What’s up, Oak,” I looked at O.J. and said, “Don’t ever shake that man’s hand again.”
I could tell Sprewell was embarrassed and he asked me, “What did I do?”
“Ask your boss.”
I don’t work that way. You can’t pretend to be my friend while you’re fucking me over. When I finally saw Bernard, I was giving him shit, too. He said he was trying to get a G-League job with the Knicks and that he only went to the Spurs game because his wife wanted to go. Fuck, they’ve got forty-one home games, but you can only go to that one? And you’re sitting next to the owner. Stevie Wonder is blind and even he can see that one.
In the days after my arrest at MSG, the fallout was continuing to cause big problems for me. I was being labeled as a troublemaker, and it hurt me financially. I had four or five sponsorship deals on the table that fell apart. The NBA and the Knicks were also getting hurt public relations–wise, which is why NBA commissioner Adam Silver called me to negotiate a truce with Dolan.
We met at Adam’s office in midtown Manhattan late Monday, five days after I was kicked out of the Garden. Adam asked Michael Jordan if he would come to New York for the meeting. Michael initially agreed but couldn’t make it in person, so he joined the conversation via phone.
I understand why Adam invited Michael; he was my friend and like Dolan he was an NBA owner. I actually said to Adam: let’s get every owner involved and really talk about what’s going on. We had two owners involved in the meeting, why not the other twenty-eight? Adam Silver banned Donald Sterling, the Clippers owner, from the NBA for life in 2014 for something he said in a private conversation on the phone to his girlfriend. Dolan publicly embarrassed the league all the time but remained in place. If I was an owner in the NBA, watching Dolan make headlines with stories that had nothing to do with winning but with causing harm to individuals, to people’s lives, I’d say we shouldn’t be going through this. The NBA has got to take a look at this. You can’t keep closing your eyes to it. It’s akin to walking the other way if you saw someone getting beat up. It just keeps happening in New York. People are not going to come to this team, and this stadium, when they see the same problem repeated over and over and over.
The sad thing is nothing came out of the meeting. The Knicks were having their annual bowling event for charity, and Dolan invited me to the party. He said it would “be nice if you walk in with me.” Dolan said the Knicks wanted to retire my jersey. He said on March 14 the Knicks would play the Indiana Pacers and that he wanted me to sit courtside as a guest of the team. He just didn’t get it. I didn’t really care about that. This was personal. I felt that Dolan wasn’t taking the problem seriously. He’d had me dragged out of the Garden. It was so disrespectful. The lies he told about me being an alcoholic were making my mother physically ill. Free tickets to a game weren’t going to make things better.
I was staying in a hotel in Manhattan that week, and I was taking a nap when Silver and the NBA released a carefully worded statement saying that Dolan was hopeful I would return to the Garden “as his guest in the near future.”
“It is beyond disheartening to see situations involving members of the NBA family like the one that occurred at Madison Square Garden this past week,” Silver said. “In an effort to find a path forward, New York Knicks owner Jim Dolan, Charles Oakley, and I met today at the league office, along with Michael Jordan, who participated by phone.
“Both Mr. Oakley and Mr. Dolan were apologetic about the incident and subsequent comments, and their negative impact on the Knicks organization and the NBA. Mr. Dolan expressed his hope that Mr. Oakley would return to MSG as his guest in the near future.
“I appreciate the efforts of Mr. Dolan, Mr. Oakley and Mr. Jordan to work towards a resolution of this matter.”
Adam wanted to end the controversy, especially with All-Star Weekend set to begin in a few days, back in New Orleans, funnily enough. Plus, the Knicks and the NBA were also feeling pressure from local politicians and civil rights groups who were threatening to stage protests outside Madison Square Garden.
The Reverend Al Sharpton and his civil rights organization, the National Action Network, had released a statement before Adam Silver’s meeting, calling for Dolan to lift my MSG ban. The NAN threatened to protest outside the Garden.
“This is an issue that is not going to go away,” said Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams. “Dolan must understand that the basketball court is not a place where you are going to treat people disrespectfully when they complete their careers. And it sends the wrong message to the countless number of young people, particularly in the inner city, that use basketball as a way to escape some of the difficult times that they are going through.”
My mom was really not doing well with all the attention I was receiving. The stress was not good for her health. I knew I had to get back to Cleveland, and following the All-Star Game in New Orleans, I returned to Ohio.
It always feels good to be home and loved. The Cavaliers were very good to me. LeBron had ended a postgame press conference the night I was arrested by saying “Oakley for President.” The next morning, he’d posted on his Instagram account, calling me a “Legend.” The point guard Chris Paul, also known as CP3, said on Instagram that I always had his back and was “the realest person our league has seen.” Dwyane Wade wrote on his account: “10 years!!! 10 years Oak gave everything he had for this organization and the image everyone will be left with… will be the [image] of him being taken down to the ground last night in the same arena he gave his all 2 as a player by the guards! This could happen to any of us!!! #StayWoke We are not above this treatment!”
Golden State Warriors great Draymond Green also came out defending me on his Dray Day podcast. “I’m pissed,” he said. “Number one, the man is a legend—treat him as such. Why is he buying a ticket to the game? It wasn’t a problem when he was speaking out then [as a player]. Why is it all of a sudden a problem now? That’s a slave master mentality. That’s ridiculous. It was all fine and dandy when he was laying people out, taking fines and all this stuff for your organization. But now all of a sudden when he says something that he feels, it’s a problem.”
He also reacted to Dolan accusing me of having alcohol and anger issues. “How as an organization can you come out and say, we hope you get help? That’s pretty messed up. That’s not something that you say to the world. That’s not classy at all. It’s not OK for you to go say to the world as a multibillion-dollar organization.”
This is the kind of thing that I mean by loyalty.
Then Dan Gilbert, the Cavs owner, invited me to sit next to him at a game at Quicken Loans Arena on February 23. I hadn’t liked the way he handled LeBron leaving for Miami, but I appreciated the support and the opportunity. The Cavs opponent that night? Yep, the New York Knicks. What’s crazy is that Dan Gilbert has the same seat location as Dolan: on the baseline next to the home team bench. This game, just like the Clippers-Knicks game from two weeks ago, was also on TNT, so everybody saw me sitting there.
The difference was that I wasn’t kicked out and arrested.
And the Cavs won 119–104.
Another loss for Dolan.
The last place you expect to be treated like a criminal is at Madison Square Garden. But this is a different Madison Square Garden from my days, a different Knicks team, and a different owner.
And it continues to this day.
Dolan got into it with Spike Lee during the 2019–20 season because he didn’t want Spike using the same elevator that Spike had been using for twenty years. Spike has been a season ticket holder forever, and suddenly Dolan was giving him a hard time. Spike shouted at them: “You want to arrest me like Charles Oakley?” In the aftermath, all everyone was talking about was what happened between Spike Lee and the Garden. That’s bad for the team.
This is Madison Square Garden under James Dolan. Patrick Ewing complained about being harassed by security during the 2021 Big East Tournament. Patrick should have known the Knicks front office didn’t respect him. That’s why the only thing they ever offered him was a G-League job. It’s really bad over there. People don’t want to talk about it.
19 SAY HIS NAME
I CAN’T BREATHE.
Those three words were on the black T-shirt I wore during the protest march in Minneapolis two weeks after the May 25, 2020, murder of George Floyd.
“I can’t breathe” is what Eric Garner said six years earlier as New York City cops placed him in a chokehold during an arrest that ended with Garner dying. And now here we were again. “I can’t breathe” was one of the last things George Floyd struggled to say as a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee on the back of George’s neck. This cop choked the life out of George for more than nine minutes and twenty seconds. Think about that. Imagine having someone put all of his weight on your neck with his knee for that long.
As a Black man in the United States I, too, have experienced police brutality and harassment before, but never to this extreme. To watch the video and hear George desperately calling out to his mother for help was horrific. No one deserves to be treated like that. Within days there were protests in just about every major city in the country. Riots and looting broke out. Stores were burned. Communities were damaged. This was an awakening in the United States. The Black Lives Matter movement was going to be heard. And we’re not going away. I felt the urge to exercise my First Amendment rights peacefully. Over the course of a month I participated in three marches, including two in Minneapolis. I had a good reason.
I knew George Floyd.
At the time of his murder, George was only forty-six years old, ten years younger than me. George was good friends with former NBA player Stephen Jackson, dating back to their days as kids in Houston, Texas. They looked so much alike that Stephen would call George “my twin.”
Jax, as I call him, was a no-nonsense player like me. He had a long NBA career. He broke in with the New Jersey Nets in 2000 and ended with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014. He won a championship with Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs in 2003. The Spurs beat the Nets in six games with Tim Duncan recording a triple-double in the final game of the series. It was also David Robinson’s last game before he decided to retire: not a bad way to go out, as a champion. Jackson started Game 6 and scored 17 points. Only Duncan and Jason Kidd scored more points in Game 6.
Although he won a ring, Stephen is probably best known for his role in the “Malice at the Palace,” the infamous brawl between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons that took place on November 19, 2004. The fight started with Indiana’s Ron Artest and Detroit’s Ben Wallace pushing each other under the basket. My friend Ron-Ron Artest never backs down from anything, and Ben wasn’t about to walk away. Ben, who I’d known since he was about twelve and he came to the summer basketball camp I was running in Alabama, was always a hard-nosed, physical player. The referees broke up the fight and were deciding the punishment for both players. Ron was lying on the scorer’s table when a Pistons fan at the Palace of Auburn Hills hit him with a drink. Without hesitation, Ron climbed into the stands and started throwing punches. Once Jackson saw his teammate fighting with fans, he jumped right in and began throwing punches, too.
In the locker room afterward it was reported that Artest asked Jackson if he thought they would get in trouble.
“Are you serious? Trouble? Ron, we’ll be lucky if we have a freaking job.”
It wasn’t that bad. Close, but no one was fired. NBA commissioner David Stern suspended Ron for the remainder of the season, without pay. He lost $4.9 million. Stephen got suspended for thirty games, which cost him $1.7 million.
The Pacers eventually, in January 2007, traded Jackson to the Golden State Warriors, where he played for one of my former coaches, Don Nelson. That was the year the Warriors upset the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks in six games. Jackson was ejected from Game 2 and Game 5, but in the close-out game he scored 33 points and made 7 three-pointers, which was a franchise record until Steph Curry and Klay Thompson came along.
I got to know Stephen Jackson better in November 2009 when he was traded to the Charlotte Bobcats. This was after Michael had purchased the team from Bob Johnson, and I had joined the organization as an assistant coach under Larry Brown and then Paul Silas, my former assistant coach with the New York Knicks.
I first met George Floyd during that season I was an assistant coach on the Bobcats, from 2010 to 2011. He would come to games to see Stephen, and George and I would talk a little bit. I didn’t know him very well, but I went out to dinner with George and Stephen once. We reconnected years later in Houston when I was coaching Stephen in the Big3, the league started by the rapper and actor Ice Cube.
I always liked Stephen Jackson because he’s tough and he’s a competitor. I’m the same way, which is why we get along. But it’s also one of the reasons we clash. You put two guys like us in the same room—or the same team—and eventually you will see fireworks.
Back in 2017, we had a heated exchange during a Big3 game that started with Jax being upset about me subbing him out. He had been arguing with the referees, so I had no other choice but to take him out to allow him to cool down.
“He’s fucking pulling on my jersey, dog!” Stephen yelled to me on the bench.
“You’re not going to holler at me,” I told him. “Why are you yelling so loud?”
“Because you took me out.”
I told him that he had to come out because he was arguing with the refs. His response was that we couldn’t win without him on the court.
“I going to check myself back in,” Jax finally told me.
“You’ll have to run through me then,” I replied. “I wanna see this.”
Eventually I put Jax back in. We won the game, and during his interview with comedian Michael Rapaport afterward, Stephen explained our relationship perfectly.
“He’s probably the only coach besides Gregg Popovich and Don Nelson that I listen to. When Oak talks, I listen. He’s like a big brother slash uncle. He’s someone I respect. He’s trying to get the best out of me.”
Three years later we were back together because of George Floyd. Jax became a national spokesman on police brutality and I wanted to support him and the cause. There are certain moments when you have to act and use your platform to draw attention to an important cause. This was that moment for me and Stephen. It doesn’t seem real that a traffic stop can turn into a man dying.
According to the New York Times, a convenience store employee called 911 and told the police that George had purchased cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. The Times later said that “17 minutes after the first squad car arrived at the scene, Mr. Floyd was unconscious and pinned beneath three police officers, showing no signs of life.” The same investigation showed that the officer Derek Chauvin “did not remove his knee even after Mr. Floyd lost consciousness and for a full minute and 20 seconds after paramedics arrived at the scene.” That’s why we were marching.
I went to George’s funeral in Houston with Stephen. We spent the night in the Third Ward talking to people, and when we got to the church there were television crews everywhere. The Reverend Al Sharpton spoke at the service. It was a powerful day.
* * *
I’ve been stopped by cops many times for no reason. Even after I made the league, the cops would fuck with me. All these interactions happened while I was driving.
The first was when I was in a white BMW in Cleveland early in my career with Ron-Ron and we got pulled over for no reason. One of the cops reached into my pocket and asked, “How much money you have on you?”
It was about $20,000.
“Why so much money?”
“Because I make a lot of money,” I told him.
“You’re Oakley? That name is floating around town a lot.”
“That’s because there’s a lot of Oakleys in the town.”
They gave me back my money, but the experience was just crazy.
Then there was another time when I was with Ron-Ron in Cleveland, this time driving a gray Mercedes, during the off-season. We saw about five cops near the park where we would often play basketball in the summer. As I pulled away, the cops followed me. I slowed down, they slowed down. I started to go a little faster and I got pulled over. A bunch of cops had their guns pointing at me. I knew a lot of the cops in Cleveland personally, and once they recognized me they put their guns down. One guy kept pointing his gun though and said, “We’re looking for a Mercedes that was involved in a drive-by shooting.” Turns out the car had a Florida license plate. My car had an Ohio plate. I heard that the cop who was pointing his gun at me was actually shot one year later.
There was another night I was driving to Atlantic City with Mark Jackson, and got pulled over on the Jersey Turnpike. It was pouring rain and the cop made me get out of the car. I’m thinking to myself, Why? It’s raining. What the fuck is going on?
They checked my car while I was getting drenched, of course found nothing, and handed me my license back. I thought it was disrespectful and told them that.
“I’m just doing my job” was the response I got.
Another time I was in the Bronx taking a friend home when all of a sudden a police cruiser, going the wrong way down a one-way street, stopped in front of my car. The cops jumped out with their guns drawn and yelled: “Get the fuck out of the car.”
I had no idea what was going on, so I just did as I was told. That seemed like the right thing to do, until a few seconds later when I had a gun pointed at my head.
