Charles Oakley wants his day in court.

The former Knicks star has been charged with assaulting two Madison Square Garden employees who ejected him from a game in February, a spectacle that outraged many fans and deepened a long feud with the team’s owner, James L. Dolan.

On Friday, Mr. Oakley rejected a plea offer from the Manhattan district attorney’s office to dispose of the charges, insisting he wanted to go to trial instead.

“That’s what he wants,” his lawyer, Alex Spiro, said.

The judge said the trial would start Aug. 4.

Minutes earlier, a prosecutor had offered in Manhattan criminal court to dismiss misdemeanor assault, trespassing and harassment charges against Mr. Oakley, 53, if he stayed out of trouble for six months, a common legal maneuver that would leave him with no criminal record.

Mr. Oakley has said he bought a ticket to the game on Feb. 8 and had a right to be there. He has denied doing anything that justified the actions of Garden employees who forced him to the ground and then escorted him out of the arena in handcuffs. “I didn’t do nothing wrong,” he said at the time.