Now the Knicks and Nets really will have to play nice together.
The NBA will announce Wednesday New York’s two basketball teams will share the 2015 All-Star Weekend, multiple league sources told The Post.
The All-Star Game will be played at Madison Square Garden while the Nets’ Barclays Center home will house the other festivities — such as the dunk, 3-point shootout and skills competitions. While the idea of the two teams sharing the weekend was openly discussed in February, how the event would be shared was not. The Post last month reported the Knicks would get the game while the Nets would house the other events.
The NBA late Tuesday announced a “major” press conference for Wednesday at a downtown Manhattan restaurant. The gathering is drawing a “Who’s Who” list for the event, including Commissioner David Stern, NBA Deputy Commissioner and Stern’s successor Adam Silver, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Garden executive chairman James Dolan, Garden president and CEO Hank Ratner, ONEXIM Sports (Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s company) president Irina Pavlova and Barclays Center developer and majority owner Bruce Ratner.
See? Lots of Knicks and Nets people together. The last time that happened was when Prokhorov and Dolan sat down to warm their chilly relationship at a meeting brokered by Stern.
Additionally, the Nets still have not determined whether they want to reverse the roles for the All-Star Weekend in 2017 or 2018, sources maintained. The league itself would favor a New York event — the cost savings for the NBA would be considerable in terms of travel and lodging alone.
In 2017 — or 2018 — Barclays Center would house the All-Star Game while the Garden would showcase the other events under one proposal which reverses the 2015 plan.
But Nets and Barclays Center officials have been studying the consequences of surrendering the arena for a full week. Like the Garden, Barclays Center will be home to an NHL hockey team by the time another New York All-Star Game lands in the city.