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BOSTON – Amid scrutiny that they ignored assistant coaches and an admission of an “unfortunate mistake” involving a cybersecurity test, the Knicks are handing out 275 championship rings to employees worth almost $4 million, The Post has learned.
The news comes on the heels of a report from The Athletic revealing that the Knicks handed empty boxes to the top assistant coaches – Chris Jent, Rick Brunson and Brendan O’Connor – during Tuesday’s ceremony.
Sources confirmed the report that assistant coaches felt “genuine anger to annoyance” about not receiving rings.
Jent, Brunson and O’Connor will get their real rings “shortly,” said a league source, who added that the distribution of 275 championship rings was always the plan. All the Knicks assistant coaches will eventually receive championship rings, league sources said.
“The company is gifting more than 275 championship rings and jewelry to players, coaches, employees and other members of the Knicks family, worth more than $3.7 million, in recognition of their contributions and celebrating this achievement,” an MSG spokesman told The Post.
Several weeks before the ceremony, the Knicks sent a mass email to MSG corporate staffers asking them to click on a link to be fitted for a championship ring, sources confirmed. However, the link led to a mandatory cybersecurity class – a tactic the Garden deployed as response to a hacking incident.
An MSG spokesman called the use of rings an error.
“The company had previously sent out an email to its corporate team as a simulation of a phishing attack designed to strengthen our security against hackers,” an MSG spokesman told The Post. “MSG was recently hacked and extorted using an employee login and password obtained through a similar phishing attack. Using the rings as a lure to gain employees attention was an unfortunate mistake.”
All current players received championship rings before Tuesday’s home opener against the Sixers, as well as former Knick center Ariel Hukporti, who was at the arena with his new Philadelphia teammates. Team executives Leon Rose and William Wesley also got their rings Tuesday.