Sports
Knicks Owner James Dolan Asked Players to Give Up Sex for 10 Weeks — Then They Won the Championship
James Dolan had a plan. And as wild as part of it sounded, it worked.
The New York Knicks owner, 71, delivered a fired-up pep talk to his players back in April, which recently surfaced through Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart on their podcast The Roommates Show on Monday, June 15 — revealing just how far Dolan was willing to go in his pursuit of an NBA championship.
The clip, recorded April 3 when the team had five regular-season games remaining, shows Dolan speaking passionately to his players about what a title would mean for their legacies. “I don’t know if you understand what it would mean for you to win the championship this year,” he said in the video. “It would be life-changing for all of you… It will stick with you for the rest of your lives, and if you don’t win it, you’ll be thinking about it the rest of your lives, and so will I.”
Among his more unconventional suggestions? A 10-week intimate abstinence pact — inspired, he noted, by ancient warriors. “I had this idea that maybe you should give up sex for the next 10 weeks,” Dolan said in the speech. “The Spartans, they denied themselves, right, so they can have an edge. Get the edge. Go home, talk to your wives … don’t tell them it was my idea.”
He added, “But let them know what this is going to be like, what this commitment is going to be like.”
Dolan also promised the players’ significant others would receive rings “when we win the championship” and insisted they trust the coaching staff without hesitation. “Your coach has the answers to what we need to do in order to win,” he said during the pep talk. “You have to take his guidance. Dedicate yourselves to correcting the things that he has pointed out to you. You got to leave nothing on the table.”
As it turns out, the message landed. The Knicks went on a dominant 16-3 playoff run, including a record 13-game winning streak, and defeated the San Antonio Spurs in five games, in front of courtside celebrities including Taylor Swift, to claim the franchise’s first championship since 1973 — ending a 53-year drought.
Whether it was the speech, the sacrifice or sheer talent, the results speak for themselves.
