When Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan went on ESPN radio in March and spoke openly about the free agents he was sure would be joining the Knicks, describing conversations with players and their representatives in which the team was told the stars were on their way, some believed it sounded a lot like tampering had taken place.
An NBA official shrugged at the time, noting that it may have felt like tampering but had avoided slipping past any boundaries. That proved correct; what Dolan believed never actually came to fruition. The stars didn’t even give the Knicks the courtesy of an in-person interview.