Storyline elements:
- Phil is failing to build the team
- Phil enraged LeBron (Posse incident) and Melo (most recently with yesterday's Ding tweet)
- LeBron and Melo have been friends for 15 years
- Phil wants Melo to drop the no-trade clause to so he can get more assets in return for him
- Melo is being disciplined during the crisis, not wanting to inflame the situation even further publicly
- Oakley is a Cleveland native
- Oakley isn't included in the 70th Knick anniversary fest in any shape or form
My guess, and this is all very speculative, is:
After Phil's latest diss to Melo, Lebron offered a little payback to comfort his longtime friend. He "ringed a bell" on Oakley's phone. After a little talk without much persuasion, Oakley (Cleveland-born) agreed to take Lebron's gift, in form of a Knicks game ticket, not coincidently numbered just a few rows behind Dolan. Oakley is already unhappy that his 10 Knick years are not appreciated. He tried to diss Dolan publicly, and it is not hard to get support for that these days.
Lebron's hands are clean.
Melo's hands are clean.
They got their payback.
Dolan smelled it all and threw Oak out of MSG. Oak said he was there for just 4 minutes.
Oak will get his counter-favor somewhere down the road.