James Dolan resigned from NBA board of governors committees

NBA

By Jenna Lemoncelli

Knicks owner James Dolan resigned from his position on the NBA Board of Governors’ influential advisory/finance and media committees, according to a memo obtained by ESPN on Tuesday.

“Given all that has occurred lately, I have come to the conclusion that the NBA neither needs nor wants my opinion,” Dolan wrote in a July memo to NBA commissioner Adam Silver, which had copied the other 29 league owners.

Dolan, who said he would no longer attend BOG meetings, suggested he would turn those duties over to Knicks general counsel Jamaal Lesane to represent the organization.

“My hope is that the Knicks will be treated equally and fairly as all other NBA teams,” Dolan said in the memo. “… As you know, I am very busy with all my duties at MSG family of companies. I need to apply my time where I can be most productive.”

Dolan has been critical of the NBA and Silver on a number of occasions.

Dolan recently voted against Michael Jordan’s sale of the Charlotte Hornets to the group led by Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin, as well as the WNBA expansion team to San Francisco, sources told ESPN.

The news came after the Knicks requested the NBA and Silver not be the ones who rule in the team’s lawsuit against the Raptors, instead pushing for the courts to decide.

The argument focused on Silver’s ability to mediate the situation due to his close relationship with Raptors minority owner Larry Tanenbaum.

The lawsuit is seeking more than $10 million in damages as part of a court filing alleging the theft of thousands of confidential files from an employee who went from the Knicks to the Raptors.