{"id":730201,"date":"2026-05-10T00:24:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T00:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/730201\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T00:24:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T00:24:15","slug":"knicks-reportedly-surveilling-james-dolan-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/730201\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks reportedly surveilling James Dolan critics"},"content":{"rendered":"

In April, Investigative sports journalist Pablo Torre partnered with Wired\u2019s Noah Schactman<\/a> to publish a report that New York Knicks owner James Dolan was using Madison Square Garden\u2019s security team to surveil<\/a> the online activity of people who were critical of him across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this one teenager in Colorado, who said something on Twitter, and [Madison Square Garden chief security officer John C. Eversole] and the Madison Square Garden security staff went into freak out mode, and they actually called the local cops on this kid,\u201d Schactman said on Pablo Torre Finds Out.<\/p>\n

Knicks owner James Dolan reads your tweets, per sources inside his surveillance state\u2014then MSG security will \u201cfreak the f\u2014 out\u201d and call local cops on critics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey scared the crap \ud83d\udca9 out of some 14 year old kid in Colorado,\u201d a staffer wrote, in one of dozens of texts we saw. pic.twitter.com\/EfmQxS6O2A<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) April 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Torre followed up his initial reporting on Friday\u2019s episode<\/a> of Pablo Torre Finds Out, and played a modulated recording of an anonymous Knicks beat reporter, which, if true, confirms Dolan\u2019s surveillance tactics.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few years back, I had a report, and then I get a call from the Knicks shortly after that. \u2018I know who your source is.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018I don\u2019t play guess-the-source,\u2019 and the person is like, \u2018I know this is your source.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked, \u2018Where is this coming from? Why are you so certain on this?\u2019 The person says, \u2018I know you had a conversation with this executive\u2026\u2019 I said, \u2018You know what this conversation was? I was just offering condolences on the death in his family.\u2019 And the person said to me, \u2018Would you have offered your condolences to that person if he wasn\u2019t your source?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yes! That\u2019s what being a human being is!\u2019 I said, \u2018How did you know I spoke to that person? There was nobody around.\u2019 And the person said, \u2018You know us. We\u2019re always watching.’\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time questionable behavior from Dolan has come under fire, and Max Kellerman recently called for the NBA to oust him from the league<\/a>. Former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was infamously forced out of the league after he was caught on audio promoting explicitly racist rhetoric, and as egregious as stalking fans is, Dolan is probably still a ways away from forcing league commissioner Adam Silver\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n

Still, if only to protect fans\u2019 privacy and their fundamental rights, the NBA or perhaps the city of New York should step in and stop Dolan from turning the Garden into a surveillance state.<\/p>\n

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