FILE – NBA Commissioner Adam Silver prepares to announce the third overall pick by the New York Knicks during the 2019 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center on June 20, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Sarah Stier/Getty Images/AFP
The NBA fined the New York Knicks $50,000 on Monday for violating league rules on media access by barring the New York Daily News from a post-draft press conference on Friday.
Other New York media outlets were invited to the conference to introduce newly drafted players RJ Barrett and Ignas Brazdeikis.
“The Knicks did not allow the New York Daily News access to their post-draft press conference on Friday, June 21 while allowing all other credentialed media who cover the team to attend,” the NBA said in a statement.
“The organization has agreed to comply with NBA Media Access Rules moving forward.”
The Knicks issued a statement acknowledging that they did not comply with NBA policy, saying they made an error in interpreting Friday’s announcement as an invitation-only event.
“As we do throughout the year, we have and will continue to provide access to credentialed media as per the league’s policy,” the team said.
There has been friction before between Knicks owner James Dolan and the Daily News, and the Professional Basketball Writers Association had issued a statement on Saturday condemning the incident as “unprofessional and unacceptable”.