Charles Oakley isn’t the biggest fan of the New York Knicks these days, having been on the receiving end of some shocking treatment from the organization three years ago.
He’s now bent on making enemies out of everyone affiliated with the team and has added former teammate Patrick Ewing to his list of burnt bridges, lashing out at the Knicks icon during a recent radio interview.
“He never put us on his back like he should have because every adversity he ducked away from,” the erstwhile big man said on CBS Sports Radio, (H/T the NY Post for their transcription). “He gave the same f**king answer after every 82 games of the year.”
Oakley also branded Ewing “high maintenance” and accused him of putting his personal happiness ahead of everyone else’s.
“You got to be special to play with Patrick,” he added. “You had to do so much out of your ordinary just to be on the team, and that hurt us sometimes. As a team, we’re supposed to be close and together. It wasn’t that. We had to make sure he was happy. He didn’t care if we [were] happy or not.
“That’s a sad situation, and I see why the Knicks won’t give him a job. He treated them bad – inside out. Chris [Childs] will tell you. He was tough to play with, but he wasn’t no problem to me because I understand. ‘Mase’ [Anthony Mason] had a problem with it because Mase always hollered and cussed at him.”
Ewing also claimed to have “lost respect” for another Knicks legend in Bernard King for not showing solidarity during his long-drawn-out feud with team owner Bob Dolan.
