Knicks acknowledge ring email ‘mistake,’ reveal $3.7 million championship gift plan

The Knicks are promising championship rings for their assistant coaches and acknowledging that using a fake ring offer to test employees’ cybersecurity awareness was a mistake.

An MSG spokesman told Stefan Bondy of the New York Post that the organization is distributing more than $3.7 million worth of championship rings and jewelry. The statement follows criticism over both the employee email and assistant coaches receiving empty boxes during Tuesday’s championship ceremony.

“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,” the spokesman said.

According to Bondy, a league source said the distribution was always planned. All Knicks assistant coaches will receive rings, with Chris Jent, Rick Brunson and Brendan O’Connor expected to get theirs “shortly.”

Those three were among the assistants handed empty ring boxes during the on-court ceremony, as initially reported by Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Bondy confirmed that reactions among the coaches ranged from genuine anger to annoyance.

The employee email created a separate problem. MSG corporate staffers received a message inviting them to click a link to be fitted for a championship ring. Instead, the offer was part of a simulated phishing attack, and employees who clicked were directed to mandatory cybersecurity training.

The organization explained the security concern behind the exercise while conceding that championship rings were the wrong incentive.

“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,” the 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.”

Players received their rings before Tuesday’s opener against the Sixers, along with executives Leon Rose and William Wesley. Former Knicks center Ariel Hukporti, now with Philadelphia, also received his.

The organization says the broader gift plan predates the backlash. But the way it handled the celebration left some of the people who helped make the championship possible waiting for rings, and others clicking on an offer that was never real.