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The Knicks are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999. For long-suffering fans, it feels like a breakthrough. For James Dolan, the Knicks' stubborn owner, it should feel like vindication. After years of brushing off critics and scrapping with the National Basketball Association, he has the team he insisted was possible. It may also be the best opportunity he'll ever have to walk away.
Granted, Dolan has shown little public interest in an exit. Over the years, he's ignored fan chants of "sell the team" and described the Knicks as a family-controlled asset to be passed down.
Billionaire owners don't sell teams when fans scream for it. They sell when timing, value and whim line up. That moment has arrived for Dolan. Even as the Knicks thrive on and off the court, the NBA is evolving toward a centralized National Football League-like business model that reduces some large-market advantages. He loathes the evolution but cannot stop it. Rather than spend the next decade fighting that future, Dolan has an opportunity to leave on his own terms.
For most of Dolan's tenure atop the Knicks, a triumphant exit was no more likely than a championship parade. He assumed day-to-day control in 1999, several years after his family acquired Madison Square Garden and the Knicks; the team is now owned by Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. Since then, he's overseen front-office churn, scandal, and a long list of misguided trades and signings. Playoff success proved elusive.
During these unsatisfying years - nay, decades - New York crowds weren't offering investment advice when they chanted "sell the team." They were telling Dolan they blamed him for wasting their time and emotional investment. He did not appreciate the sentiment, going so far as to have a fan ejected from a game in 2019 for saying it.
Still, Dolan had reasons to believe his patience would be rewarded, starting with the traditional advantages that large markets enjoy. In the Knicks' case, that includes the franchise's singular place in hoops culture, the allure of New York, and the revenues generated by local media rights. Those strengths don't guarantee a winning team (as Dolan has proven again and again), but in theory, they should make it easier to attract and pay the talent to build one.
This year's Knicks, built with a degree of competence and patience unusual in a Dolan era notable for its reckless win-now moves, show how the formula can work. Market size and money still matter. But the NBA is narrowing those advantages with revenue sharing and tough salary rules that punish excessive spending. A team like the Oklahoma City Thunder can now compete with New York for players and relevance. Meanwhile, a shift from local broadcasting monopolies to streaming is pushing the league into a more global future.
This last evolution may be the most aggravating for Dolan. His family fortune was built on cable and regional media dominance, and he has not been shy about railing against deals that undermine it. In 2024, as a new $77 billion streaming-centric NBA media deal loomed, he sent a letter to the league's 29 other teams, warning that it would "take down the successful franchises and redistribute to the less successful."
But his rallying cry fell on deaf ears. According to Sports Business Journal, the 2024 deal passed 29-1, with only the Knicks in opposition.
These developments leave Dolan in an awkward place. He's finally winning even as the league moves to limit the major-market perks he treasures. Worse, the drive for parity may shorten the competitive window for his franchise. As soon as next season, this Knicks roster may not survive the league's pursuit of balance, as the NBA's strict new spending rules increasingly punish high-payroll teams. The results could mean another round of mediocrity after an impressive season.
Instead of waiting around for that to happen, Dolan can exit now, on top, from a league whose direction he dislikes. The market is ready whenever he is. A year ago, the Los Angeles Lakers were sold at a $10 billion valuation to Guggenheim Partners LLC Chief Executive Officer Mark Walter(1).
Even if the league's new rules complicate the Knicks' future, the franchise's commercial possibilities, an enduring fanbase, and the absurd scarcity of New York-based sports teams for sale may make the team even more alluring to a buyer.
And why shouldn't Dolan dream of more? Investors certainly have. Since the start of the 2025-26 season, shares of Madison Square Garden Sports have soared amid fan enthusiasm and higher per-game revenues. According to Sportico, this year's playoff run alone could generate more than $140 million in revenue.
For now, the Knicks aren't for sale (not publicly, at least). But in February, MSG Sports Corp.'s board of directors decided to explore whether to spin off the Knicks, and last week, paperwork was filed to advance a proposal to do it. If the spinoff happens, a sale - partial or full - will be much easier to execute.
Will it happen? Only Dolan knows. But for the first time in decades, "sell the Knicks" doesn't feel like failure. It feels like a masterful parting shot.
(1) Walter is also the owner and chairman of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers.
Minter is a Bloomberg View columnist. He is the author of "Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade."
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