If there’s a version of Charles Oakley in today’s NBA — an enforcer turned All-Star who talks a big game and plays even bigger — it is Draymond Green, so you might have assumed the Golden State Warriors star would come to the legendary New York Knicks forward’s defense. And did he ever.

Green ripped Knicks owner James Dolan’s “slave-owner mentality,” called for the firing of the team’s public relations director and blasted the organization for its treatment of current and former players in his “Dray Day Podcast” with Bay Area News Group columnist Marcus Thompson for Uninterrupted.

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The two-time All-Star was highly critical of the Knicks PR department for releasing a statement after Oakley’s arrest at Madison Square Garden last week that read, “we hope he gets some help soon,” and of Dolan for doubling down on irresponsible speculation about potential alcohol and anger issues. But Green reserved the strongest language for Dolan’s treatment of Oakley leading up to the arrest:

“The man is a legend. Treat him as such. First off, this is Charles Oakley. Why is he buying a ticket to the game? If I’m not mistaken, Dolan owned that team when he was playing. It wasn’t a problem when he was speaking out then. It wasn’t a problem when he was protecting their superstars then. So, if it wasn’t a problem then, when he was doing it for y’all, why is it all of a sudden now when he’s speaking out on something he don’t like? And now you want to disown him from your entire organization? “That’s a slave mentality. You’re doing it for me, it’s all good, but now you’re doing it against me — or not necessarily against me, but you’re speaking out against my organization — it’s not good anymore? That’s a slave mentality — a slave-master mentality. That’s ridiculous. “It was all fine and dandy when he was laying people out, taking fines and all this stuff for your organization, but now all of a sudden when he says something that he feels, it’s a problem. I disagree with that. I definitely think, like I said, that that’s a slave-master mentality.”

Warriors All-Star forward Draymond Green isn’t a fan of Knicks owner Jim Dolan. (AP) More

Dolan claims videotape shows Oakley was belligerent from the moment he entered MSG for last Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers, and things only escalated when he took his seat in the first quarter, including alleged verbal aspersions cast in the Knicks owner’s direction, just a few rows ahead. Within minutes, Oakley was seen on ESPN cameras arguing and shoving security guards before being dragged into the concourse, arrested and banned for life from the Garden (temporarily).

Oakley offered a conflicting side to Dolan’s story, suggesting the Knicks owner has a longstanding issue with him that may or may not stem from his vocal criticism of the organization, and he sent the security guards to do his bidding. Then, the Knicks called him a liar. Green believes none of that matters (there are three sides to the story, he said — Oakley’s, Dolan’s and the truth), because Oakley deserved to be treated with the respect he earned as a catalyst for New York’s success in the 1990s.

Dolan did not assume control of the Knicks until 1999, the year after Oakley was traded to the Toronto Raptors, but he was involved in the organization when Oakley played for the team and is fully aware of the reputation he has in New York. Regardless, Green’s point remains: He thinks Dolan’s treatment of Oakley is rooted in a slave-owner mentality, which is quite the accusation by an active player of an owner. Dolan’s actions afterward, parading Latrell Sprewell and Larry Johnson around and sitting the ex-Knicks next to him at the next game, smacked of indignity, but Green’s claim seems like hyperbole.

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