Charles Oakley’s lawyer edited a draft of the New York Knicks legend’s autobiography to boost a “false narrative” about his infamous ejection from Madison Square Garden that sparked a long-running civil suit, new court documents allege.
A manuscript of Oakley’s 2022 book, “The Last Enforcer,” was tweaked by his attorney, Douglas Wigdor, in a bid to “fundamentally” change ex-NBA forward’s account of the night in 2017 he got into a heated confrontation with Garden security and was tossed, MSG lawyers contended in the new filing Monday night — an argument Wigdor denied.
MSG’s legal team outlined at least three examples where Wigdor reshaped the account that has led to a years-long legal fight between Oakley and Knicks and MSG owner James Dolan.
Oakley, in one passage, admitted to starting the physical confrontation with security and that he “never should have touched” them, but Wigdor rewrote the version to say security began grabbing his client and he needed to defend himself, MSG lawyers wrote.
In another draft account, Oakley said he slipped when he first got up from his seat, but Wigdor changed it to claim the former NBA star was “pushed down by Dolan’s guys,” according to the court docs.
And Oakley also wrote he “was asked to leave,” but was unsure who demanded that, while the new version from Wigdor stated the retired athlete was “ordered to leave” by Dolan, according to the court filing.
“These were not minor edits at the margins,” MSG lawyers insisted.
“Wigdor edited the final version to tell a fundamentally different story from the truth reflected in each and every one of the earlier drafts of Oakley’s autobiography – a truth that would have been fatal to Oakley’s litigation position.”
Oakley sued Dolan months after he was ejected, claiming security used excessive force to remove him.
The lawsuit has been tossed twice before it was revived in an appeals court last May.
Wigdor brushed off the latest legal missile directed at him and his client in a statement to The Post.
“The final version of the book is consistent with Oakley’s testimony as well as the evidence and we are confident that a jury will agree,” he said in an email.
“We are also confident that a jury will ultimately conclude that it was Dolan who has repeatedly tried to justify MSG’s unlawful activity by inventing a false narrative to defend the use of unreasonable force to remove Oakley from the Garden.”
MSG declined comment Monday night.
“The truth is that Wigdor and his firm concocted this false narrative to savage their case,” the legal filing argues.
The filing, which also goes after Oakley for failing to preserve text messages that could be relevant to the case, calls on a judge to sanction Oakley, his legal counsel and to toss the case.
The 6-foot-8 Oakley was a well-respected player for the Knicks in the 1990s and was known as one of the NBA’s best rebounders.
