"I would give up an Academy Award" - Spike Lee on what would make him give up his prized accolades 

The critically acclaimed director and screenwriter Spike Lee, as much as he is fond of making movies, also loves basketball—particularly the New York Knicks. Lee, who regularly attends basketball games and is present at almost every Knicks match, took his fans and everyone else by surprise when he claimed he wouldn’t mind giving up one of his Oscars for the New York Knicks to win the 2025 NBA Championship.

Besides being a critically acclaimed and Oscar-winning filmmaker, Spike Lee is widely known for his passion for basketball and his unwavering love for the New York Knicks. He has been a huge fan of the team since his childhood. According to USA Today, Lee’s most cherished memory as a Knicks fan was attending the 1970 NBA Finals. It was the first time the Knicks won the championship.

Spike Lee says he’d trade an Oscar for a Knicks Championship

As the 2025 NBA Finals are set to take place on June 5, during Thursday’s Eastern Conference Final game—which the Knicks won against the Indiana Pacers—Spike Lee stated he would give up one of his Oscars for the Knicks to win the championship title. While speaking with Charles Barkley on NBA on TNT, Lee said:

"I would give up an Academy Award, Oscar, for the Knicks to win a championship."

To which Barkley replied:

"Well, you're gonna keep 'em!"

Sixty-eight-year-old Spike Lee is the recipient of two Academy Awards. The first Oscar he won was in 2016, at the age of 58, becoming the youngest artist to have received an Honorary Academy Award. He won the second Oscar in 2019 for Best Adapted Screenplay for his biographical crime comedy film BlacKkKlansman, which received six Oscar nominations across different categories, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Spike Lee, widely known for his award-winning movies that explore thought-provoking themes, touch on social and political issues, and focus on race relations, was not the only New York Knicks fan at Thursday’s Eastern Conference Final game. Oscar-nominated actor Timothée Chalamet and veteran actor Ben Stiller, who are also huge Knicks fans, were present as well.

The Knicks fans, specifically Lee, Stiller, and Chalamet, felt unwelcome as a sports pundit was unkind to them

At the Knicks vs. Pacers game, which took place in Indianapolis, Lee, Chalamet, and Stiller felt a little unwelcome when sports pundit Pat McAfee began trash-talking, aiming at the Knicks fans—particularly them. Pat said:

"Spike Lee is here. Ben Stiller is here. Timothée Chalamet is here. Let’s send these sons of b*tches back to New York with their ears bleeding!"

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When the video of the moment was posted on X (formerly Twitter), Ben Stiller replied, saying:

"Yes. Weird. We were happy to be there and cheer our team and other than that Indy fans were awesome."

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