Former NBA All-Star Charles Oakley has revived fresh allegations about being blackballed by the NBA. This time, he’s not just referring to being left out of the Knicks championship celebrations. He’s accusing the league of ignoring his charitable efforts and actively withholding support while he worked to feed thousands of in-need residents during marquee league events.
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Speaking on an episode of the For The Fellas podcast hosted by Brian “B-Mac” McIntosh, alongside former NBA champion J.R. Smith, Atlanta Falcons veteran Za’Darius Smith, and ESPN senior reporter Justin Tinsley, Oakley detailed how the league allegedly blackballed him following the infamous 2017 incident at Madison Square Garden.
Oak explained that through the Charles Oakley Foundation, launched in 2020, he routinely prepares between 500 and 2,000 meals per event at major venues, shelters, and rescue missions across the country, including St. Vincent De Paul and locations in Las Vegas and New Orleans. However, when he attempted to connect his philanthropic efforts with major league events like NBA All-Star Weekend, he claims the organization turned a cold shoulder to him.
“I was in Skid Row in LA and I ask NBA, they wouldn’t help me,” Oakley told the panel. “I had a sign up say I’m cooking for Skid Row All-Star weekend. They said they was going to take the sign down… They told me I couldn’t put the sign up because I ain’t get the permission. I said, ‘My name is Charles Oakley. I got permission.’ God and me.”
According to Oakley, the lack of backing repeated itself when All-Star Weekend was in Cleveland in 2022. He recounted reaching out directly to league officials for modest promotional items or merchandise donations to bolster his charitable activations, only to be flatly rejected.
“Same thing. Call the NBA, ‘Give me a keychain, give me a hat, give me a something, a towel or something.’ They wouldn’t do it,” Oakley shared. “So, I had a full-day event. They wouldn’t donate nothing.”
Oak expressed frustration at what he perceives as the NBA’s hypocrisy, asserting that league officials monitor his work on social media yet refuse to lend institutional support. He attributed this stance directly to his ongoing rift with the New York Knicks and MSG owner, James Dolan.
“It’s just crazy because, you know, I had the incident 2017 when they dragged me out of the Garden and ever since then, they really blackballed me,” Oakley stated. “NBA say they care. They don’t care. They only care for that one day every day. Every year, they only care for that one thing: the All-Star weekend.”
J.R. Smith echoed Oakley’s sentiment during the broadcast, responding, “That’s a fact.”
Oakley’s frustration over the Cleveland All-Star Weekend stands out given his deep personal ties to the city. A Cleveland native who attended John Hay High School, Oakley was originally drafted by the Cavaliers in 1985 before being traded to the Chicago Bulls.
During the 2022 All-Star festivities in Cleveland, Oakley spearheaded his foundation’s “Oak Out Hunger” initiative independently, preparing meals for residents at the Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry and visiting his high school alma mater to engage with students.
Even though there was no NBA involvement, at the time, Oakley noted it was “only right” to organize community outreach in his hometown. He held multiple benefit events without official NBA backing through the years.
The underlying tension between Oakley and league leadership stems from February 2017, when he was forcefully removed by security guards and arrested during a broadcasted Knicks game at Madison Square Garden near owner James Dolan. The altercations triggered a complex, multi-year legal saga.
In August 2026, Judge Richard J. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed Oakley’s remaining assault-and-battery claims against Madison Square Garden. The court ruled that video evidence and witness testimony demonstrated Oakley was given a reasonable opportunity to depart peacefully and that MSG security did not use excessive force.
Despite the resolution of his legal claims, Oakley remains noticeably absent from official league functions and team reunions, including the Knicks’ recent championship. At that time, Adam Silver told the media that his and Michael Jordan’s attempts to bury the feud failed. But Oak strongly denied the commissioner’s claims.
“No. He’s [Silver] lying again. It’s two times in this case that he done lied about it,” Oak said as recently as June, when the New York diehards were sorely missing the original enforcer of the 1994 Finals run. “I haven’t talked to James. I’ve been to court with James. We tried to settle it, and he said, ‘No.’ So it’s just been a whole thing. They’ve blackballed me from the NBA. In 2019 or 2020, the All-Star in Cleveland… I had called them. They didn’t invite me to nothing.”
Despite the dismissal of his remaining claims against MSG, Oakley has continued his philanthropy nationwide through independent funding. However, his comments underscore a lingering rift not just with his former team, but also the league office.