Rumors

The Knicks will host the Spurs at Madison Square Garden on June 8 and 10, and, if needed, will play here again on June 16. The first of eight matches at New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. will be on June 13, when Brazil faces Morocco. On Thursday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani laid out a complicated matrix of steps, many implemented by the Metropolitan Transit Authority, designed to help handle up to a hundred thousand extra mass transit riders on game days. "We [normally] handle 6 million riders a day, so this is something within our control," Hochul said.

NPR

FoxNews: Kathy Hochul attempted to dunk on President Trump over the Knicks — and ended up getting roasted by fans instead. The New York governor tried to quiz the president's support for the team when asked about him potentially attending an NBA Finals game. “I ask him to name the starting lineup from the 1993 championship team and see how he does,” Hochul said. There’s just one problem: the Knicks didn’t win a championship in 1993. Their last NBA title came in 1973.

x.com

A top Madison Square Garden official says the World’s Most Famous Arena is willing to relocate — as long as they only have to move across the street. The potential relocation would plunk the Garden at a nearby site on Seventh Avenue, to help make way for Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plans to expand the Penn Station transit hub.

New York Post

As Kyrie Irving remains away from the Nets, refusing to adhere to the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the team has moved on without him. Tuesday afternoon, in an ironic twist, the Nets and Liberty teamed up with Gov. Kathy Hochul to offer free tickets to anyone who gets vaccinated at Barclays Center — which Irving has been unwilling to do. “I think the message is that the team itself supports vaccinations,” Hochul said, when asked directly about Irving’s decision not to get vaccinated. “The vast, vast, vast majority of their players are vaccinated, and they’re here to support making sure that members of the community are vaccinated. That’s the takeaway from today’s event.”

New York Post