Stephen A. Smith is not celebrating the Knicks’ 2026 title with blind confidence in the man who owns the team.
On ESPN, Smith said he is “worried” that James Dolan could slip back into the kind of meddling that has long shadowed his tenure now that New York has finally won its first NBA championship in 53 years.
“I get worried that [Dolan]... may be one of those dudes that says, 'Hey, we're champions. We finally got the chip. So I can go back to my old ways of being a nuisance and getting in the way of basketball operations because I put business ahead of basketball,'” Smith said.
That concern comes with a familiar backdrop. Over the years, Dolan has developed a reputation for being heavily involved in basketball decisions, often to the frustration of the executives tasked with running the team. The source of that reputation runs through a long list of controversial choices, including his loyalty to Isiah Thomas in the mid-aughts and the decision to sacrifice what had been a steadily improving on-court chemistry for the star power of Carmelo Anthony in 2011.
There has been a different feel around the organization since Leon Rose became president in 2020. Dolan, for the most part, stepped aside and let Rose run basketball operations, and the results have been obvious: the Knicks are now champions after their historic title run.
Still, Smith said he is “very, very” concerned that the championship could give Dolan a sense of “cache” that tempts him back toward his old habits.
Some of that unease has already surfaced over the past two offseasons. Last summer brought the surprise firing of head coach Tom Thibodeau, a known Rose guy, and the hiring of Mike Brown.
The source also points to reluctance from the front office in another area, saying it played a primary role in the team losing Mitchell Robinson to the Celtics in free agency.
Even so, those choices have not hurt the Knicks so far. Brown coached his butt off in leading New York to the 2026 NBA Championship, and the club’s self-imposed hard cap still let it bring back a large portion of its championship core for next season.
But the bigger point remains the same: despite the success, Smith believes Dolan is once again showing a willingness to insert himself into basketball matters in ways that cut against Rose’s vision.
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