Former New York Knicks forward Charles Oakley has been ordered to pay more than $642,000 in legal fees to Madison Square Garden, marking the latest development in an eight-year legal dispute stemming from his highly publicized 2017 ejection from the arena.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky issued the ruling on Friday, October 31. According to court filings obtained by Front Office Sports, the fee award covers attorney costs tied to MSG’s effort to recover Oakley’s deleted text messages related to the incident.
MSG’s legal team initially requested approximately $1.5 million in fees, but the judge reduced the bill after finding the firm’s hourly rates and time entries insufficiently supported. The final total—including reduced legal fees and adjusted litigation costs—came to $642,337.
Oakley’s legal conflict with MSG began on February 8, 2017. During a Knicks home game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Oakley was seen arguing with security personnel before being forcibly removed from his seat near team owner James Dolan.
Video from the game broadcast showed Oakley being restrained and handcuffed in the crowd. He was later charged with misdemeanor assault and criminal trespassing.
The Knicks said at the time that Oakley had behaved “in a highly inappropriate and completely abusive manner.” Oakley denied the allegation, stating that he had not said anything to Dolan before security approached him and asked him to leave.
In an interview shortly after the incident, Oakley said he only became physically defensive once guards surrounded him. "I shouldn’t have put my hands on anyone," he said, while continuing to dispute claims that he was acting in a belligerent or intoxicated manner.
The fallout led to intervention from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Michael Jordan, who helped mediate a meeting between Oakley and Dolan a few days later. The Knicks lifted Oakley’s ban from the arena soon after.
Still, the relationship was not repaired. Oakley filed a civil lawsuit in September 2017, accusing MSG and Dolan of assault, battery, and defamation, citing both the altercation and Dolan’s public statements suggesting Oakley had substance abuse issues.
The case was dismissed in 2021, but a federal appeals court revived parts of it in 2023, allowing specific claims to proceed. While the underlying case continues, the fee ruling represents a setback for Oakley.
MSG was granted the right to seek legal fees in July after the court found that Oakley failed to preserve text messages from the period following the incident. MSG’s attorneys said the process of attempting to recover those messages accounted for more than $1.3 million of their time.
Oakley’s attorney, Valdi Licul, said in a statement that the defense team plans to appeal the ruling, adding, “The court denied most of MSG’s wildly inflated fee request… we disagree that MSG is entitled to any recovery.”
Oakley, who played 19 seasons in the NBA and earned roughly $44 million over his career, has maintained that the dispute is about clearing his name. The court has not yet ruled on MSG’s motion for summary judgment to end the case.