image via: twitter

Charles Oakley was back in the building last night to see a Knicks game but not in the way that fans of the team had hoped. Oakley traveled to his hometown of Cleveland to watch the game at Quicken Loans arena as a guest of Cavs owner, Dan Gilbert.

Whether Gilbert did it on purpose or not, it was a masterful troll job directed at Knicks owner, James Dolan. I don’t have to remind you the way Dolan treated Oakley when he had him thrown out of MSG and then made inflammatory statements about him afterwards, insinuating he is an alcoholic. So you have to pardon Oakley is he isn’t ready to kiss and make up with Dolan and accept his invitation to be his guest at a Knicks game. Oakley was a guest at a Knicks game last night anyway.

According to Cleveland.com, Oakley was technically a guest of local attorney Frederick Nantz and it was Gilbert that had his seat moved so he could be next to him.

The troll job continued when Oakley told the media he was there “rooting for the better team” which is pretty obvious what team that was.

He doesn’t seem interested in talking to Dolan or ever having his Knicks jersey #34 retired, as his former coach Jeff Van Gundy said should happen.

“How long would it take you to get over something?” Oakley asked when he was asked about reconciling with Dolan. As far having his jersey retired, he said “It’s just a jersey. I don’t care about that. They didn’t retire Bernard King’s jersey and he’s a better player than me.”

You can probably bet we will have to wait till at least next season before we see Oakley back inside MSG. Time can usually heal most wounds but it’s clear the wounds cut deep in Oakley when Dolan spoke about him the way he did.

Written by @IamJoeSports

H/t NYDN