New York Knicks owner James Dolan appeared to snub a photo with Mayor Zohran Mamdani during Thursday’s championship celebrations.
The Knicks and Dolan were joined by a host of WAGs, celebrities and Mamdani as they celebrated their first NBA Championship in 53 years with an open-top bus parade throughout the streets in Manhattan.
The parade, which wound its way through the Canyon of Heroes, culminated in a ceremony at City Hall where Mamdani gifted ceremonial keys to the city to the champions, including Dolan.
However, there appeared to be tension between the mayor and the Knicks chief when they came face-to-face onstage.
Dolan, who was the first to receive the honor, did not appear too enthused to pose for a photo opportunity with Mamdani.
Dressed in an orange blazer and a blue Knicks cap, Dolan quickly shook hands with Mamdani and accepted the key, but refused to stand close to the mayor.
New York Knicks owner James Dolan appeared to snub a photo with Mayor Zohran Mamdani
Dolan quickly turned to return to his seat without hesitation after receiving the key to the city, leaving the New York City Mayor awkwardly stood waiting for a photo onstage
Mamdani then stood awkwardly in preparation of a photo but Dolan did not hesitate, instead immediately turning back towards his seat.
The pair shared another tense exchange during the ceremony when they appeared to trade sly digs at one another.
During a nearly 10-minute speech, Mamdani recapped the team’s championship highlights while also referring back to a number of Knicks legends, including one known to have bad blood with the New York owner.
The democratic socialist rattled off Bernard King’s 60 point game on Christmas Day 1984, Willis Reed’s gutsy performance in the 1970 NBA Finals and Patrick Ewing’s battles with the Indiana Pacers.
He then name dropped Charles Oakley, whose longstanding feud with Dolan stems from a 2017 incident where Madison Square Garden security forcibly removed the former player from a game and arrested him.
Dolan bore a thunderous expression from where he sat behind Mamdani during the reference to Oakley.
The MSG boss then fired back with snappy comments of his own when his turn to take to the podium came.
‘I don’t need your vote, I don’t need to quote to you, right, about what happened here because if you’re real Knicks fans, you know it already,’ Dolan said in an apparent dig at the mayor.
Mamdani delivered a nearly 10-minute speech as the parade culminated at City Hall
The Knicks owner appeared to take a sly dig at Mamdani during his own address to fans
The bitter exchange came after the pair feuded ahead of Game 4 over watch parties outside the iconic Garden.
Dolan took aim at the mayor for setting up restrictions around the famous arena that dampened the raucous watch parties taking place outside the venue.
‘They’re sitting there trying to say, “Well, we’re big Knicks fans,” but they’re not Knicks fans,’ Dolan said on WFAN on June 10.
‘He’s not a Knick fan,’ he added in reference to Mamdani.
Aside from the tense spat, the celebrations were a scene of jubilation as the players shared their crowning moment with millions of New Yorkers.
The players were greeted by a fervent crowd of New Yorkers in orange and blue as they made their way up Broadway to City Hall after crowd chaos, hospitalizations and arrests marred the build-up earlier in the morning.
Millions of jubilant New York Knicks fans celebrated their team’s NBA championship victory
Karl-Anthony Towns smokes a huge cigar as the Knicks enjoyed their NBA title parade
Thousands of Knicks supporters lined up overnight for a glimpse at history and Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby and Co were in high spirits as they partied with fans along the short route.
Karl-Anthony Towns smoked a huge cigar and carried the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals trophy as fans screamed in delight as they battled for a glimpse of their heroes.
Brunson, who spoke with New York Governor Kathy Hochul before boarding his float, posed for pictures with his wife Ali and their young daughter Jordyn while his family celebrated alongside him.
Hollywood stars Timothee Chalamet, Ben Stiller and Spike Lee were also in attendance after being almost ever-present during the playoff run. Fellow Knicks superfans Tracy Morgan and Chris Rock also boarded a float along Broadway.
