New York Knicks owner James Dolan asked his players to sacrifice during the NBA Playoffs, both in the locker room and in the bedroom.
Dolan, 71, met with the team on April 3, before the playoffs began. In a video shared on Monday, June 15 by “Roommates Show,” the podcast hosted by Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, as well as Matt Hillman, Dolan told the team that since he bought the franchise more than 30 years ago, he “never felt closer” to a championship than he did at that point.
But to get there, it would take sacrifice.
“I had this idea that maybe you should give up sex for the next 10 weeks,” Dolan said. “You don’t have to give up sex for the next 10 weeks — but, like the Spartans, you know what Spartans are? They denied themselves, right? So that they can have an edge. Get the edge.”
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He continued, “Go home, talk to your wives and tell them — don’t tell them you’re not gonna have sex, don’t tell them it was my idea — but let them [to] know what this is gonna be like, what your commitment is gonna be like, and how they’re gonna have to sacrifice too,” he added.
Dolan promised that if the Knicks won the championship, he would also make sure that every player’s wife or significant other would also receive a championship ring.
Just over two months later, the Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs, 94-90, on Saturday, June 13, to win the NBA Finals, 4 games to 1, and capture their first title since 1973.
While it’s impossible to know which players, if any, heeded Dolan’s request, guard Mikal Bridges addressed the comment in an Instagram Live on Monday, June 15.
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“Don’t have no sex? Lock in?” Bridges, 29, said incredulously. “N****s a savage. He could be a bigger savage if he built a practice facility in the city, but he’s still a savage.”
But Dolan didn’t stop at telling his players to avoid sex for two months.
“You need to bump your practice. You need to pay more attention to your diet. You need to sleep better. You need to be ready for every game,” Dolan said. “That’s not something you start on the first game of the playoffs. That is something you start right now, today.”
He also told the team what it would mean to give the massive Knicks fandom its long-awaited championship
“You will forever, ever be important to New York City,” Dolan said. “No matter where you go and what you do the rest of your lives, when people introduce you, even if you become the president of the United States, they’ll start off with ‘NBA champion, 2026. That’s what’s at stake here.”
