If it appeared in any respect unusual to see Mayor Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo sitting courtside at a Knicks sport like Ben Stiller and Chris Rock, suppose how a lot stranger it was to see Zohran Mamdani’s identify emblazoned within the workforce’s iconic brand.
Because the Knicks’ promising season kicked off final week, carrying the hopes of a fan base already mired in soccer failure, there was Mamdani leaping with each toes on the orange-and-blue bandwagon.
“This is our year,” a deep-voiced announcer stated in a business for the Democratic nominee for mayor that aired throughout the Knicks residence opening win in opposition to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“We’ve struggled. We’ve had dreams dashed and hearts broken. But things can be different. Hope is back. New York, our time has come.”
Regardless of the timing, and gritty hoops footage from playground courts, there may be not a soul alive who has ever bounced a basketball who thinks Mamdani’s self-serving advert was any sort of homage to the Knicks.
The Queens assemblyman was clearly speaking about his shocking, upstart marketing campaign.
That’s tremendous. That’s what marketing campaign advertisements are alleged to do.
However Mamdani crossed the road — a flagrant foul, some may say — when his advert individuals stretched his identify throughout the emblem spot the place “New York” and “Knicks” are alleged to be.
And the Knicks aren’t having it. They didn’t take any guff from the Boston Celtics final season within the playoffs.
They’re definitely not taking any from him.
”The NY Knicks have despatched NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani a cease-and-desist letter for utilizing the NY Knicks brand to advertise his candidacy,” the workforce stated in a press release.
”The NY Knicks have despatched NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani a cease-and-desist letter for utilizing the NY Knicks brand to advertise his candidacy,” the workforce stated in a press release.
The Mamdani marketing campaign didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Knicks proprietor James Dolan has gone one-on-one with individuals for much less. In 2022, the vindictive proprietor banned a lawyer from attending a Mariah Carey live performance at Madison Sq. Backyard as a result of she represented a consumer who was suing him, in keeping with a lawsuit.
If voters are unable to maintain Mamdani out of Metropolis Corridor, possibly Dolan can not less than maintain him out of the Backyard.
The Backyard welcome mat seemed to be out for Cuomo, Mamdani’s closest rival. After debating Mamdani and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa on Wednesday night time, Cuomo picked up a coveted endorsement from Adams, the outgoing mayor, with whom he caught a sport from seats that had been, as Jay-Z would say, “close enough to trip a referee.”
To outsiders, it most likely felt like going to a Mets sport with a bunch of Yankee followers.
In the meantime, Mamdani, who already beat Cuomo within the metropolis’s Democratic major, has acquired endorsements from Gov. Hochul and Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries.
Cuomo is working as an impartial. Adams, who was additionally working as an impartial, suspended his marketing campaign final month.
Sliwa is resisting calls from Democrats and members of his personal social gathering to step apart and provides Cuomo a lift.
The identical debate ended on a light-weight observe, with every candidate being requested to decide on between the Mets and the Knicks if each groups had been, in some bizarre, debate-question-only hypothetical scheduling twist, enjoying for a championship on the identical night time.
Sliwa, a Yankees fan, selected the Knicks. Cuomo struggled with the softball, saying he would do “half and half,” a solution that bought underneath Mamdani’s pores and skin.
“See, that’s what New Yorkers are sick of,” Mamdani stated. “I’d be there for the Knicks.”
Strong reply. However don’t strive going to the Backyard with that “Zohran” brand Knicks hat.
You may get run out of the constructing.
Initially Printed: October 25, 2025 at 5:56 PM EDT
