James Dolan Complained To The NBA About Mikhail Prokhorov's Bullying

Yesterday, the New York Post reported that the David Stern brokered a détente between the feuding owners of the Knicks and Nets last season, apparently because the league hates fun. But the more interesting part comes farther down: this meeting wasn't initiated by the NBA. Instead, Dolan went to the commish and essentially told him, make Mikhail stop being so mean to me.

From the moment Prokhorov bought the team and moved to Brooklyn, he has needled Dolan nonstop. There was the giant Nets billboard looming over Madison Square Garden. Prokhorov saying he'd rather emulate a successful franchise than the Knicks. Prokhorov trash-talking Dolan at every opportunity.

Says the Post,

According to several sources, Dolan was furious about the 22-story, 21,375 square-foot billboard and called league officials to complain, a tactic he repeated last year after Prokhorov referred to him as “that little man” in a New York Magazine article.

Dolan is notoriously thin-skinned. (See: here, here, here, here, and the entire Frank Isola saga.) Maybe Prokhorov should have thought twice before trying to revive a moribund rivalry, create more excitement around both teams, or send merchandise sales through the roof.

By all accounts it was nothing personal for Prokhorov—just good business. But after hearing from Dolan one too many times, Stern summoned both owners for a meeting to work things out. The Post's sources say it was "cordial and friendly," and the interborough sniping seems to have tailed off. In fact, the Knicks and Nets are expected to co-host the 2015 all-star weekend.

[ NY Post]