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Spike Lee: I would give up an Oscar for the Knicks to win a Championship
Spike Lee’s love of the Knicks knows no bounds! As the team hovered on the brink of elimination on Thursday, the two-time Oscar-winning director said he would trade one of his statues in exchange for a title. “I would give up an Academy Award, Oscar, for the Knicks to win a championship,” Lee, 68, told Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson, analysts Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley, and TNT game analyst Reggie Miller before the game’s tip. He continued, “I got two already, but I’d give up—“
Lee went on to explain his allegiance to the team by showing off his more wearable form of hardware. “Look at this,” Lee said, and then showed the pendant around his neck. “This is [Knicks coach] Red Holzman’s ring. This is May 8, 1970, I was in the Garden for Willis Reed’s game. This is the first championship ring.”
Alex Golden: Pat McAfee hypes the crowd up: “Spike Lee is here. Ben Stiller is here. Timothee Chalamet is here. Let’s send these SOBs back to New York.”
Pat McAfee hypes the crowd up:
— Alex Golden (@AlexGoldenNBA) May 28, 2025
“Spike Lee is here. Ben Stiller is here. Timothee Chalamet is here. Let’s send these SOBs back to New York.” pic.twitter.com/2nZbsl6aIm
Pat McAfee, who also appears as a commentator on WWE’s “Monday Night Raw,” channeled his inner wrestling heel as he chided the likes of Spike Lee, Ben Stiller and Timothée Chalamet. “Indianapolis, Indiana, we’ve got some bigwigs from the big city in the building,” McAfee started off saying. “Spike Lee is here,” he said as the crowd booed. “Ben Stiller is here,” he continued eliciting more boos. “Timothée Chalamet is here. Let’s send these sons of bitches back to New York with their ears ringing. Let’s turn this s–t up!”
He was there postgame, pointing at Tyrese Haliburton after the brash young guard paid tribute to him by reenacting Miller's famous choke gesture at the end of Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference finals, when he scored 25 of his game-high 39 points in the fourth quarter and engaged in the legendary back-and-forth with Spike Lee that spawned a 30 for 30, "Winning Time," in 2010. Haliburton said he's watched that documentary "probably 50 times" growing up and had been waiting -- over the course of two separate playoff series -- for the right moment to reenact Miller's "choke" gesture in front of the MSG crowd. "That's just a historic moment," Haliburton said after the game. "Obviously him versus Spike, kind of the one-on-one. I felt like [my gesture] was kind of to everybody. But to [Miller], too. I wanted him to see it more than anything."
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The first issue, the one curated by Mr. Wade, is dedicated to basketball and features 10 different cover models — among them, Cameron Brink, Jalen Green, Spike Lee, Jordan Clarkson, Giorgio Armani and Mr. Wade himself, all in fashion labels like Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga and Fear of God, photographed by names like Mario Sorrenti, Quil Lemons and Nick Knight.
What stands out most in Gordon’s already one-of-a-kind warehouse gym home are the celebrity icons from different genres. Many are no longer with us. Gordon chose each specifically for daily motivation. A young Obama smoking marijuana. Einstein. Athletes including Serena Williams, Muhammad Ali, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Tony Hawk, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Pele, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and Jackie Robinson. Dancer Josephine Baker. Actor and martial arts legend Bruce Lee. Musicians Billie Holliday, Prince, Lauryn Hill, Miles Davis, Bob Marley, Jimmy Hendrix, B.B. King, Notorious B.I.G., Nipsey Hussle, Michael Jackson and Mac Miller. Olympic activists John Carlos and Tommie Smith. Comedian Richard Pryor. Actor Heath Ledger. Civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. Civil rights activist and Muslim minister Malcolm X. Filmmaker Spike Lee. Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Antiapartheid activist Nelson Mandela. Legendary sports journalist Stuart Scott. Poet Maya Angelou. “I got everybody there from Muhammad Ali to Bruce Lee,” Aaron Gordon said. “You have greatness looking at you. You can’t be [joking around]. It makes you want to not bulls—.”
Carmelo Anthony on Trae Young: He's a New York villain
Carmelo Anthony on Trae Young: Trae is a New York villain. Spike Lee: He's a villain, for the New York fans he's a villain, and he plays into that. Carmelo Anthony: He embraces it. Spike Lee: What about that game?! When he rolled the dice on the Knicks logo. And nobody did nothing! (…) Knicks said ‘we didn't see him do that’… I don't believe that. Carmelo Anthony: I’ll tell you who's saying it, ESPN that's a fact that sh*t was headlined for about two weeks after that. Spike Lee: That would have not happened with some other Knicks teams. Xavier McDaniel? Charles Oakley? On the logo! On the court! Nobody did nothing. Carmelo Anthony: That's like the flag, that's our flag. So you stomping on our flag, you rolling on our flag, you don't come pounce on our flag. That's disrespect.
Spike Lee on Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James courtside confrontation: It was sad
Spike Lee on Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James: I was at the that game that Lakers-Knicks game with Stephen A. and LeBron, when LeBron press Stephen A. I just felt bad, that was sad to have two brothers like that. That was like ‘come on now’. And it didn't stop! I thought it was going to end but it kept going! Carmelo Anthony: Sh*t don’t stop today. You got to stand on it on both sides. Stand on business.
Spike Lee: “Game six. Indiana. Every time I see John Starks, I give him a hug, cuz he didn’t show up in Game 6. I would’ve had to move. That game—the next morning, I was on the cover of Newsday, the New York Post and New York Daily News. I was being blamed for the loss. And Reggie, people ask him, ‘Do you still hate Spike?’ People ask me, ‘You still hate Reggie?’ Like that sh— happened 20-something years ago. Nah, I got caught in the crossfire. Knicks vs. Pacers. That was war, man. That was real beef.”
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As film director Spike Lee autographed a green Jayson Tatum jersey for a young Boston Celtics fan, the renowned New York Knicks superfan asked him, “How come he [Tatum] didn’t play during the Olympics? Why did he sit?” Without skipping a beat, the youngster asked Lee, “Why weren’t there any Knicks playing during the Olympics?” As NBA fans at the Basketball Hall of Fame store looked on and laughed, Lee smiled and said, “Hey, how old are you?” The young Celtics fan said, “I’m 12.” Lee, who was wearing a Knicks bucket hat and an orange vest over a Knicks sweatshirt, said, “I hope you’re there opening night, because even though you’re hoisting a [NBA championship] banner, you’re losing [to the Knicks].”
The SuperFan Gallery honors fans for their passion and love of basketball and acknowledges their unique and well-known fandom. Lee has won an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmys and two Peabody Awards. He has won awards for his basketball movie, He Got Game. “I didn’t even know that thing existed,” Lee told Andscape. “So, it was a big surprise. Things are lining up this year … I got two [special] Oscars, too, so this is good.” Lee, 67, credits his love of the Knicks from his late father Bill, a renowned jazz bassist and composer.
The Lees attended Knickerbockers games together at the third Madison Square Garden before it was demolished in 1968 and the current Garden was built. Lee said he attended a deciding Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals — and missed one of his dad’s concerts — when the Knicks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers. He wears a necklace with former Knicks coach Red Holzman’s 1973 NBA championship ring hanging from it. “My father was a Knicks fan who was taking me to the old Garden on 8th Avenue,” Lee said. “My father was a big sports fan. My love of sports come from my late father. My mother was a cinephile. That is where the film thing comes in. Music, sports and cinema. My father hated Hollywood films.”
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