Sport-Blog.com

By Ed Jennett

Although he recently returned to the struggling New York Knicks after finishing his suspension for entering the stands in a game at Chicago on January 18th, PF/C Antonio Davis may not be with the team for much longer. The Knicks are a rebuilding team, and two of the best trade assets that the club has are the expiring contracts of Davis ($13.86 million) and PG/SG/SF Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway ($15.75 million). New York is one of the only teams in the league that clearly could not care less about the salary cap or the luxury tax, so it is obvious that Knicks GM Isiah Thomas will attempt to trade them to a team (or teams) looking for cap relief.

The funny thing about that likely scenario is that after initially not reporting to the Knicks after they acquired him (Davis did not want to move his family from Chicago, which is also where his wife Kendra is from originally), and even openly contemplating retirement, Davis has begun to enjoy playing for the team and being a veteran leader on the young squad. In fact, Davis has even go so far as to say that he would strongly consider re-signing with the Knicks during the offseason.


Antonio was scheduled to start in the Knicks January 30th game in Atlanta against the Hawks after he had completed serving his five-game suspension. He was a last-minute scratch due to lower back pain. Antonio avoided the blowout at the hands of the Hawks, but was embarrassed along with the rest of his teammates in another blowout by SG Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers the following night. Antonio delivered one of the Knicks only "highlights" when he committed a flagrant foul on the high-scoring Bryant to stop him from scoring.

The Knicks were 1-4 while Antonio served the suspension.

During a timeout with 1 minute 4 seconds remaining in overtime of the Knicks 106-104 loss to the Bulls at the United Center in Chicago, Antonio Davis looked into the stands and saw his wife Kendra Davis scuffling with a man. Antonio stepped over the scorer's table and then jogged approximately 7-10 rows where Kendra was seated. Antonio's involvement only lasted about 15 seconds. There was no physical contact amongst any of the participants at that point, but people were shouting and pointing at one another. Security guards and referee Ron Garretson came over after Antonio arrived.

The security guards remained in the area for a few more minutes while other fans appeared to be explaining what had happened. Guards then escorted a group of people out of that section.

Antonio later defended his actions and said that there was no time to alert security. It should be noted that neither security nor the referee became involved in the situation until Antonio was already there.

According to the Davises, a man sitting (Michael Axelrod) behind Kendra began making "very inappropriate" comments about the Knicks and Antonio in particular. The Davises say that Kendra then politely asked the man to take into consideration that the son of the player he was talking about was there. The man went on to say some other things and the situation began to get out of control. Another man became involved in the altercation and he grabbed Kendra. It was at this point that Antonio entered the crowd.

According to Michael Axelrod, Kendra Davis verbally abused and made physical contact with him. The attorney for Michael Axelrod said that his client would drop the plans for a lawsuit if the Davises would apologize and make a donation to a charity that works to prevent violence against women and children. Antonio's response to the second part of the request was to question why he would make a donation on the part of Michael Axelrod, or anyone else, when he does not believe that he did anything wrong. The Davises also said that they would not apologize.

In fact, Antonio stated a few days after the incident that "if I had to do it all over again, I would do the same thing. I don't think you have time to think about it; you're just reacting. I thought that my wife was in danger. I didn't like it at all. I didn't see anybody there helping the situation."

The most ridiculous part of the entire fiasco was Michael Axelrod's request that the Davises make a donation in his name. Not only is Antonio, who is the President of the Player's Association, widely respected throughout the league, he received the Sears Community Service Award in the 1999-2000 season for his philanthropic efforts. In addition to that Antonio and Kendra teamed for a series of public-service announcements against domestic violence.

On January 23, Michael Axelrod issued a joint statement with the Davises, saying that the incident "evolved from some misunderstandings." The Davises did not apologize, and had not spoken with Axelrod. But Bill Duffy, the agent for Antonio, had been talking with David Axelrod, who is the father of Michael and a prominent Democratic political consultant. The younger Axelrod and his attorney had been threatening to file a battery suit against Kendra and a slander suit against Antonio.

"It is good to come to a sensible resolution of this matter, especially when good people are involved," said Duffy in the statement. "You have two strong, wonderful families, and there is no reason why a heated moment should divide them."

Any lawsuit by Axelrod would not have had much of a chance at being successful. Even though Antonio Davis entering the stands was against league rules, simply doing that does not automatically create civil liability. His reason for entering the stands would in fact most likely protect him from any liability.

What are the chances that a jury would penalize a man who simply went into the stands in order to protect his wife and children? The chances of that happening are slim and none. Davis never attempted to harm anyone, in fact, no one was injured at all. That means, obviously, that Axelrod was not physically harmed. It also does not appear that Axelrod suffered any sort of financial damage.

In order to win a lawsuit the plaintiff has to prove both liability and damages. Axelrod clearly would have had a hard time proving either one. It also would have been difficult for Axelrod to have claimed any sort of "emotional distress" from the incident. Proving that usually involves some sort of treatment from a mental health professional. How could this incident have resulted in Axelrod seeking the assistance of a mental health professional? And if he had, how could anyone have taken it seriously?

After the incident Davis said that a fan involved appeared to be intoxicated and had touched his wife. Axelrod claimed that this statement was damaging to him. Davis later pointed out that he did not say Axelrod was intoxicated, he said that a fan was intoxicated (there were two fans involved in the dispute - the second was never publicly identified). Axelrod also admitted to having a glass of wine with dinner before the game. So not only could Axelrod not prove that Davis was referring to him, he had in fact actually had a drink. Axelrod would also have to prove that the statement had damaged him in some way.

Both Axelrods are huge Bulls fans and are ironically also fans of Antonio Davis, who was traded by the Bulls to the Knicks along with C Eddy Curry before the season began. The older Axelrod even said that they considered Antonio to be the bigger loss in the deal because he provided the team with toughness, and added that the Bulls have missed him.

Another bizarre irony is that David Axelrod once worked for Cablevision, which owns the Knicks. The elder Axelrod developed media strategy for the company's opposition to a new stadium that was being proposed by the New York Jets of the NFL. David Axelrod later left that campaign to help a New York City mayoral candidate with his bid.