by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
Strangely, or perhaps not so strangely, the Knicks have yet to guarantee that president Donnie Walsh will finish out his deal in New York.
Though Walsh’s shrewd moves have led to the turnaround of New York’s hoops team — only one of the NBA’s marquee franchises — MSG overlord James Dolan hasn’t seen it fit to reward him by assuring his future with the franchise.
According to the NY Post, commissioner David Stern is pushing Dolan to keep Walsh in charge.
It’s all reportedly very hush-hush, especially when one considers how much Donnie Walsh hates having his personal business out there like this, but the message from NBA HQ is unmistakable:
Commissioner David Stern has worked quietly behind the scenes to have Knicks owner James Dolan bring back president Donnie Walsh to finish out the final year of his contract, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Post. Three years ago, Stern lobbied Dolan to hire Walsh to restore respectability to the franchise in the wake of the Isiah Thomas fiasco and the sexual harassment trial involving former marketing employee Anucha Browne-Sanders that stained the franchise.
However, as The Post reported Friday, Dolan has hesitated on exercising the option on the fourth and final year of Walsh’s contract because he still has Thomas on his radar, speaking to him more than once a week. The deadline for Dolan to exercise the option is April 30.
This isn’t the first time that Stern and the League have stepped in to stop the Knicks from doing something horrifically stupid, and unlikely the last.
Now that the New York Knicks are relevant on the basketball court again, it appears as though David Stern isn’t willing to let them screw things up so easily.
