In the past, Oakley has owned car washes, detailing centers, salons and other businesses,\u00a0 including operations in Brooklyn and Yonkers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Oakley called the recent Knicks win \u201cgreat,\u201d adding that he was really proud of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the fans around the city of New York and around the country have been waiting on this for way too long,\u201d he said. \u201cFifty-three years is a long drought.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oakley, who played in New York for a decade, pointed out that his greatest memory as a Knick was going to the NBA Finals in 1994.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe took it seven games and went down to the last minute,\u201d he said. \u201cWe worked incredibly hard as a team but just couldn\u2019t close it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0When asked about his thoughts on the NBA today as compared to decades ago, when many would argue the game was significantly more physical, Oakley called it \u201ca completely different league.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of that has to do with Europeans becoming NBA players,\u201d he said. \u201cThe game has kind of adapted to their style of playing. Often, the big man, the center, has the ball and is bringing it up and running the offense. To me, it\u2019s some dumb basketball, but ultimately, it\u2019s all about money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oakley also played with Michael Jordan on the Chicago Bulls and was often described as Jordan\u2019s on-court protector. He called Jordan \u201ca classy guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis work habits, the way he carried himself \u2014 I\u2019m just so glad I got a chance to play with him and to be his friend,\u201d Oakley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Oakley also addressed the ban that remains in place, preventing him from attending games at Madison Square Garden, which stems from a February 2017 incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During a Knicks home game, Oakley was removed from his courtside seat near Knicks owner James Dolan. Oakley was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault and trespassing. Although he was later cleared of all criminal charges, Dolan issued a formal ban. However, as of June 2026, the matter is \u201cin litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen with that,\u201d Oakley said. \u201cI certainly can\u2019t control it, but I hope it eventually gets resolved, maybe even this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oakley said that these days, he\u2019s been busy with his charitable organization, the Charles Oakley Foundation, whose mission is to combat hunger and poverty in underserved neighborhoods primarily through its \u201cOak Out Hunger\u201d initiative.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York State Supreme Court Judge Cenceria P. Edwards, also in attendance, is a close friend of Oakley\u2019s. Edwards spoke to the Eagle about her connection to the Knicks legend as well as her personal ties to basketball.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout a decade ago, I was in Harlem at a Southern restaurant, and I\u2019m ordering my food. I turn around, and he walks through the door. I said, \u2018Charles Oakley?\u2019 and he just looks at me and starts laughing,\u201d she said. \u201cWe started talking for a while, mostly about basketball. He was like, \u2018This girl knows what she\u2019s talking about!\u2019 Eventually, we exchanged numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edwards was a point guard in high school and college. \u201cAt [Samuel J.] Tilden High School, we were division champs for all four years,\u201d she said. \u201cI still have my jacket.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The judge referred to Oakley as \u201ca very normal person and a real down-to-earth guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s really a good friend, perhaps one of my best friends,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI will tell you that if Charles Oakley is your friend, he\u2019s pretty much like he was on the court \u2014 \u2018The Enforcer,\u2019 a guy that has your back for life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the past, Oakley has owned car washes, detailing centers, salons and other businesses,\u00a0 including operations in Brooklyn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[87390,4567,98,100,99,1882,10430,9,24,1104,5325,63],"class_list":["post-275014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-african-american-clergy-and-elected-officials-aaceo","tag-basketball","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-community","tag-national-basketball-association-nba","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-no-paywall","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}