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I wanted to ask you about the current Knicks’ imbroglio. Spike Lee: Not going to the White House. Yeah. Apparently, the team owner, James Dolan, who we know is a Donald Trump pal, is trying to force them to visit the White House but the team doesn’t want to. Spike Lee: He can’t force them! It’s been years since the last NBA team has gone. They’re not going. I hope they don’t go! I hope they don’t go.
How do you, as a Knicks superfan, reconcile having James Dolan as the owner of the Knicks? So, not to cut you off, but here’s the thing: There were a lot of Yankees fans that didn’t like George Steinbrenner and his politics. But Steinbrenner wasn’t bringing the president to crucial Knicks games, taking shots at the mayor by questioning his fandom, etc. Spike Lee: He wasn’t. But he was a Republican.
How did Ben Stiller get to make the documentary on the Knicks’ championship run and not you? Spike Lee: It was Dolan. Dolan gave it to him. Look, it’s his team, he can do what he wants to do. Coulda woulda, but it’s his team. He also wants his team to go to the White House, too.
Tyrese Haliburton: "Did you ever think the choke would live on for so long?" Reggie Miller: "No, I didn't. Because when I did it to our good friend Spike Lee, I didn't think it was going to have the longevity that it did all these years. I didn't think the cameras were really rolling because it was a free throw that was going on, and he and I were having our banter back and forth. But I didn't think it was going to have the legs that it did all these years. And I thought it was dead until someone had to bring it back."
Derek Jeter and Eli Manning, who also appeared in the Polymarket commercial first teased by James, are being paid under “smaller” endorsement deals than James’s, one source says. The commercial featured a slew of other athletes and celebrities, including Spike Lee, Reggie Bush, and Alexandra Daddario; some of the celebrities were paid just for that one commercial, rather than for longer-term endorsement deals, the source says. Other than James, Jeter, and Manning, it wasn’t clear who has long-term agreements in place versus who received a one-time payment to appear in the ad.
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The third edition of their live podcast experience — “The Roommates Show Block Party Presented by DoorDash” — will move from Central Park to Randall’s Island Park on Sept. 24 due to high demand for tickets after the Knicks secured their first title in 53 years. More than 4,000 tickets for this year’s show sold out in 90 seconds, with nearly 8,000 fans left on the waitlist, making this the potential largest live podcast event of all time. They will welcome special guests including Jose Alvarado, Mariska Hargitay, Jimmy Fallon, Spike Lee, Landry Shamet and more — plus musical performances from Fabolous, Jim Jones, Maino and Dave East. “I think it’ll be a great opportunity to celebrate with the fans and also celebrate the fans themselves,” Brunson said. “They showed up for us, so I’m just excited to show up for them in a fun and different environment.”
Spike Lee, a huge fan of the Knicks, rushed the stage to usher the team out in a confetti-filled celebration. “Let’s go, we’ve been waiting 53 years!” Lee said.
Comedian Kevin Hart and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith are among those who think celebrity Knicks superfan Spike Lee should get a championship ring after the franchise won its first title in 53 years. Hart shouted out Lee in an Instagram video posted on Sunday. “Give Spike a ring,” Hart said of Lee, who has likely paid many millions for tickets over the last 40 years. “Spike deserves a f–kin championship ring, and I’m saying it here. Give Spike a New York Knicks championship ring.”
Some New York Knicks fans are calling for one of the team's most famous supporters, Spike Lee, to get some shine as the team basks in championship glory. The fans flocked to social media over the weekend, calling for the team to give the famed director, who has been a Knicks season ticket holder for decades, an NBA championship ring alongside the team, after they secured their first NBA title since 1973.
Several celebrity Knicks fans were in attendance to watch the team win the championship, including Spike Lee. After the game, Lee's former adversary, Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller, took to Instagram to congratulate Lee on the team's championship. “This may shock MANY, but I have to give my Brotha @officialspikelee his flowers, he’s been around for the Good-Bad-Ugly.. Congrats Spike.. ” wrote Miller.
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But this takeover phenomenon underscores one of the pronounced dividing lines in America: economics. The finances of sports have gotten to a place where presence is as much about purchasing power as it is about passion. It’s a distorted reality produced by an industry governed by billionaires. Knicks fans’ advantage exists in size and wealth. It’s a numbers game. By sheer virtue of having nine million people in New York City, and the largest collection of millionaires in America, they simply have a higher percentage of fans who can stomach the cost. The Knicks get so much money that the franchise doesn’t even charge the multimillionaire celebrities who sit courtside. (Except for Spike Lee, who buys his tickets.) They can afford to comp the best seats in the house.
Trae Young on his relationship with Spike Lee: "Spike is as much as everybody says so many things, he's been such a good person to me and my family. He's giving me one of his books, I mean, has a handwritten letter in it that he wrote and gave it to me, I think it was after that series or at the end of that and I mean, just been nice to my pops and everything. So he's just been a great dude and that's the head of New York, you know what I'm saying?"
Spike Lee is maybe hoping to give the Knicks an extra blessing on Monday night. The “Do the Right Thing” director sported a custom Pope Leo XIV Knicks jersey for Game 3 of the NBA Finals after receiving it at the Vatican last year. Pope Leo is a Villanova alum, like Knicks stars Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart.
Fullcourtpass: Spike Lee has one rule for a potential Knicks' championship parade: "Just don't bring in the motherf***ing ICE. No ICE. I've said this more than once, ICE is not welcome." (Via @andscape, h/t @TheNBABase)