While he isn't actively looking to sell the team, Knicks owner James Dolan said in a wide-ranging interview with ESPN that he has a responsibility to his shareholders to be open to it.
"You have a responsibility as the guy who runs the place to deliver on that for them, that's being open and transparent," Dolan told ESPN's Ian O'Connor. "And so in that position, I could never say that I wouldn't consider selling the Knicks. Now, my family is not in that position, and they are the majority shareholders. They hold the majority of the vote. ... As a majority owner, I don't want to sell, either. As the head of the public company, you can't say you can't sell, because then you're telling your shareholders that your own personal feelings about your assets are more important than their money. And they won't invest with you if you do that."
Dolan announced in June that he was planning on branching off the Knicks and Rangers from the entertainment side of the company. fueling speculation at the time that he was getting prepared to sell.
In 2017, the Houston Rockets sold for an NBA-record $2.2 billion. The Knicks are currently valued at more than $3.3 billion, according to Forbes.
"No one has come through with a bona fide offer," Dolan told O'Connor. "You hear numbers all the time. ... I think people have sent feelers out, but never any that were pursued. Yeah, [the feelers are] around that number [$5 billion], but those things, it's like a stock price. It's only important if you're going to buy or sell."
Dolan purchased the Knicks, Rangers, and Liberty in 1999 and has won zero championships since.