He added: “They’re going to come in, and they’re going to tell me what they want to do. They’re going to tell me how much it costs, and I’m going to say yes — assuming it doesn’t bankrupt the company. I don’t think they’ll come in with a bankrupt-the-company scenario, but I’ve told them that I’m willing to spend. We need a championship here.”

The courtship began three months ago, according to Mr. Dolan’s and Mr. Azoff’s accounting. After years of watching his wife organize a party for friends that she called “Just Us Girls,” Mr. Azoff wanted to throw one of his own. So he invited about 150 of his male friends to his home in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles, including actors (Larry David), television executives (Les Moonves) and musicians (at least three members of the Eagles). Also on the guest list: Mr. Jackson and Mr. Dolan.

Mr. Azoff said that his wife, Shelli, and the actress Chelsea Handler were the only women who attended.

Mr. Dolan knew that Mr. Jackson would be there. He said they had met only once, last year at the 4oth anniversary celebration of the Knicks’ last N.B.A. title at the Garden. (When the team previously pursued Mr. Jackson for its head-coaching position, the front-office executives Dave Checketts and Isiah Thomas were the envoys from the Knicks who gauged his interest, Mr. Dolan said.)

At Mr. Azoff’s party, Mr. Dolan sought out Mr. Jackson. The Knicks were plummeting to the depths of the Eastern Conference, struggles that had caught Mr. Dolan by surprise, he said. The team was coming off a 54-win season, after all. But whatever chemistry that had kept that unit together was failing amid a flurry of injuries and late-game blunders.

Mr. Dolan, 58, and Mr. Jackson, 68, retreated to a small downstairs office, away from the other partygoers. Mr. Dolan asked Mr. Jackson if he was interested in coaching. Mr. Jackson told him that he was not.