Source: Sean Gardner / Getty
When it comes to his former New York Knicks teammates, Charles Oakley doesn’t think too highly of them at the moment.
The fan-favorite enforcer let it rip on Monday (Apr.14) during an appearance on WFAN’s The D.A. Show. The Oak Tree called his former Knicks teammate, Patrick Ewing “high maintenance,” claiming that his style of play hurt the team instead of helping it.
“Even though I said he’s high-maintenance, people might take that wrong – he was a high-maintenance player. Everybody in the world knows he was. You got to be special to play with Patrick. You had to do so much out of your ordinary just to be on the team, and that hurt us sometimes. As a team, we’re supposed to be close and together. It wasn’t that. We had to make sure he was happy. He didn’t care if we was happy or not. That’s a sad situation, and I see why the Knicks won’t give him a job. He treated them bad—inside out. Chris [Childs] will tell you. He was tough to play with, but he wasn’t no problem to me because I understand. Mase [Anthony Mason] had a problem with it because Mase always hollered and cussed at him.”
This isn’t the first time Oakley has taken a shot at Ewing. After previous Knicks coach David Fizdale was fired, the retired NBA baller told TMZ Sports his former teammate wasn’t built for the daunting task of coaching the Knickerbockers.
“Ya gotta be a different type of coach than Patrick,” Oak tells us. “I think he tried before and they didn’t hire him. So, I don’t know. We’ll see what happens.”
Oak wasn’t finished during The D.A. Show interview either. He also called out Latrell Sprewell, Larry Johnson, and Bernard King, stating that he “lost respect” for them, and even wanted to “smack” King, following them appearing alongside Knicks owner James Dolan after the 2017 incident that saw Oakley get arrested at Madison Square Garden.
Oakley and Dolan are currently still engaged in a legal battle over the incident and recently was ordered by a judge to attend mediation to squash the civil suit. It’s clear as day Charles Oakley has no love for the Knicks and a good number of its players at the moment.
Photo: Sean Gardner / Getty
