{"id":938578,"date":"2026-10-23T23:02:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T23:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/938578\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T23:02:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T23:02:16","slug":"nba-2026-new-york-knicks-championship-rings-for-employees-after-phishing-email-blunder-official-statement-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/938578\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA 2026: New York Knicks championship rings for employees after phishing email blunder, official statement, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Knicks are handing out 275 championship rings to employees worth almost $4 million, The Post has learned. <\/p>\n

The news comes on the heels of a report from The Athletic revealing that the Knicks handed empty boxes to the top assistant coaches \u2013 Chris Jent, Rick Brunson and Brendan O\u2019Connor \u2013 during Wednesday\u2019s (AEDT) ceremony. <\/p>\n

Watch an average of 9 LIVE Regular Season games per week of the NBA regular season plus the best of the NBA Playoffs LIVE with ESPN on Kayo Sports | <\/p>\n

Jent, Brunson and O\u2019Connor will get their real rings \u201cshortly,\u201d said a league source, who added that the distribution of 275 championship rings was always the plan. <\/p>\n

All the Knicks assistant coaches will eventually receive championship rings, league sources said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe company is gifting more than 275 championship rings and jewellery to players, coaches, employees and other members of the Knicks family, worth more than $3.7 (AU$5.26m) million, in recognition of their contributions and celebrating this achievement,\u201d an MSG spokesman told The Post. <\/p>\n

The Garden also acknowledged an error involving a mass email sent to MSG corporate staffers several weeks before the ceremony. <\/p>\n

The email asked the staffers to click on a link to be fitted for a championship ring, sources confirmed. <\/p>\n

However, the link led to a mandatory cybersecurity class \u2013 a tactic the Garden deployed as response to a hacking incident. <\/p>\n

An MSG spokesman called the use of rings an error. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe company had previously sent out an email to its corporate team as a simulation of a phishing attack designed to strengthen our security against hackers,\u201d an MSG spokesman told The Post. <\/p>\n

\"NEWNEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 20: Walter “Clyde” Frazier Jr. presents Josh Hart #3 of the New York Knicks his Championship ring during the Ring Ceremony prior to the game between the Philadelphia 76ers and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on October 20, 2026 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sarah Stier\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cMSG was recently hacked and extorted using an employee login and password obtained through a similar phishing attack. Using the rings as a lure to gain employees attention was an unfortunate mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

All current Knicks players received championship rings before Tuesday\u2019s home opener against the Sixers, as did former Knick center Ariel Hukporti, who was at the arena with his new Philadelphia teammates. <\/p>\n

Team executives Leon Rose and William Wesley also got their rings Tuesday. <\/p>\n

This article first appeared on The New York Post and was reproduced with permission. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Knicks are handing out 275 championship rings to employees worth almost $4 million, The Post has learned.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":938579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-938578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/938579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}