• Madison Square Garden later called it “an unfortunate mistake” and said the organization would still follow through on the original promise: more than 275 championship rings and pieces of jewelry for players, coaches, employees and other members of the Knicks family.
  • “The company is gifting more than 275 championship rings and jewelry to players, coaches, employees and other members of the Knicks family, worth more than $3.7 million,” an MSG spokesman said.
  • The organization acknowledged that the mass email sent to MSG corporate staffers several weeks before the ceremony was an error.
  • The team’s assistant coaches and staff were part of the same championship moment, but the ring rollout for employees became tangled in a phishing test that was meant to address cybersecurity concerns after MSG was recently hacked and extorted using an employee login and password obtained through a similar phishing attack.
  • One report noted that many longtime employees at Madison Square Garden will not receive rings at all, even as the organization moves ahead with the broader distribution.
  • One report said the franchise generated $640 million in revenue and saw its estimated valuation climb 29% to $12.6 billion, making it the NBA’s second-most valuable team.