The strange Madison Square Garden world of James L. Dolan and his complicated relationship with Isiah Thomas became a whole lot stranger Tuesday with the announcement that Thomas had been hired to run the W.N.B.A.’s Liberty franchise as team president, one with an ownership stake.
Without public knowledge, Thomas had been serving as an adviser to the Liberty in recent months, and he said in a telephone interview that he had been instrumental in the January reinstatement of Coach Bill Laimbeer, his former teammate with the Detroit Pistons, whose contract had not been renewed after last season.