Knicks fire Tom Thibodeau after 5 seasons
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau reacts in the fourth quarter as the Knicks play the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden on May 21. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
The Knicks were a feel-good story, the city celebrating wildly as the team pushed deeper into the postseason than they had in a quarter century. And just three days removed from the last day of that season, the team fired coach Tom Thibodeau on Tuesday.
Thibodeau, 67, led the Knicks to a 51-31 record this season, reaching the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years. He oversaw a complete culture change after decades of dysfunction. The Knicks had endured seven straight seasons below .500 and out of the playoffs before he arrived in 2020 and then made the playoffs in four of five seasons, reaching the conference semifinals for two straight years before ascending to the conference finals this time.
A team source indicated that no decision has been made on the assistant coaches, although nearly all of them were close to Thibodeau — including lead assistant, Rick Brunson, father of Jalen Brunson, who was with Thibodeau in both Chicago and Minnesota before joining the staff in New York just prior to the signing of his son in 2022.
“Our organization is singularly focused on winning a championship for our fans. This pursuit led us to the difficult decision to inform Tom Thibodeau that we’ve decided to move in another direction,” Knicks president Leon Rose said in a statement. “We can’t thank Tom enough for pouring his heart and soul into each and every day of being the New York Knicks head coach. He led us not only with class and professionalism for the past five seasons, but also to tremendous success on the court with four playoff berths and four playoff series victories. Ultimately, we made the decision we feel is best for our organization moving forward. Tom will always be a part of our Knicks family and we truly wish him nothing but the best in the future.”
Thibodeau had secured a three-year contract extension last summer as he entered this season, which would have been the last of his current deal. But it wasn’t enough to keep the Knicks ownership and front office from pushing him aside.
Thibodeau was a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, including his first year in New York.
The Knicks did not announce any candidates, but there are some names that will be worth watching. Mike Malone, a former assistant on the Knicks who won a championship two years ago with the Nuggets, was let go in Denver with three games left in the regular season and is highly respected. Taylor Jenkins and Mike Brown, both former coaches of the year, were also let go during the season. And of course, Jay Wright, who coached Villanova to national titles with Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart, will be rumored, but a source indicated he would not come to the NBA.
The status of Thibodeau had been speculated throughout the league for months with rumors that he needed to get past Boston in the second round to keep his job. But even after beating the defending champions, it wasn’t enough.
Asked if he believed Thibodeau was the coach to take the team to the next level after the season ended on Saturday night against the Pacers, Jalen Brunson said, “Is that a real question right now? You just asked me if I believe he’s the right guy. Yes. Come on.”
That answer reflected the belief that the locker room had in the hard-nosed coach. Brunson was almost a mirror to the coach on the floor, taking the game with the same serious approach as Thibodeau. Hart, who flourished after coming to New York to play for Thibodeau, becoming the sort of throwback to 1990s Knicks players who hustled wildly around the floor and never wanted to come off the court.
One of the criticisms of Thibodeau was his heavy use of his starters, but from the start of his tenure in New York — same as it was in his prior head coaching stops in Chicago and Minnesota — he played his best players to try to treat every game with the requisite importance. And the Knicks, lasting deep in the postseason, were healthier than almost any other team this season.
“You’re always going to hear me say run it back,” Hart said Saturday night when asked about the possible changes. “I think you heard me say the same thing last year with the guys we had. I’d like to do it. I feel like this team is good enough to make the next step. But it’s a business. And when you don’t get to where you feel like you could’ve or should’ve, changes are made.
“This is my eighth year. This is my fourth organization. I’ve had six coaches or seven coaches. It’s tough, we’re going to have to see.”
The Knicks will now embark on a coaching search, absent the stability and professionalism that Thibodeau brought to the team, hoping that there is a coach out there that can tweak some offensive or defensive scheme while crossing fingers that the approach to the game is not lost.
“It’s definitely tough to look ahead but even when you win, it’s always about what’s next,” Brunson said after Saturday’s loss in Indiana. “So regardless, we’re gonna go into this summer, we’re gonna work, we’re gonna get better, and we’re gonna figure out a way to change this outcome. It’s gonna start with obviously just us and our mentality, making sure we take it one day at a time. We can’t just jump back into the conference finals. But I’ve got a lot of faith in this group. No one sees the things that we see every day. No one sees the type of people that we have, the workers that we have. That’s what gives me the confidence, and I’m OK with that. I don’t care what people think about us on the outside. I know what we’ve got.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
