The New York Knicks appear to be pivoting after a report that the team used the promise of championship rings as a cybersecurity test. In a statement to the New York Post on Friday, a spokesperson for Madison Square Garden (MSG) confirmed a report from The Athletic that the company had sent emails last month offering employees championship rings as a phishing test.

The company said it had recently undergone a hack, which led to the test, likely under the urging of Knicks owner James Dolan, who is known to be worried about cybersecurity.

“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 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.”

Part of the oddness of the targeted phishing test is that, as The Athletic reported, many longtime MSG employees were not going to be receiving rings at all. That includes some who work in the Knicks’ business operations — a role that would typically result in receiving a ring.

The Knicks also appear to be walking that back as well: The spokesman told the Post that the company will be giving “more than 275 championship rings and jewelry to players, coaches, employees and other members of the Knicks family.” The jewelry will total more than $3.7 million, per the company.

Individual teams typically get to decide who, in addition to the players, will receive rings after a championship, but many owners will give out more simple versions of the players’ rings to employees within the organization.

Knicks players received their massive, diamond-encrusted rings during the team’s home opener on Tuesday, with the championship banner also getting raised into the rafters at MSG. The rings feature a removable top that reveals a miniature Madison Square Garden.