New York Knicks Fire Tom Thibodeau After 2025 Playoff Exit
The New York Knicks believe they are title contenders and made a surprising move as they decided to fire coach Tom Thibodeau after five seasons with the team. This comes as a bit of a surprise as point guard Jalen Brunson has praised him throughout the year and Thibodeau signed a three-year contract extension 10 months ago. Let’s take a closer look at what just happened and discuss what is next for the New York Knicks.
Tom Thibodeau Fired by New York Knicks
Seeing coaches get fired is nothing new, but seeing the quality of a coach like Tom Thibodeau be fired after being two wins away from the team’s first NBA Finals berth in a quarter-century is a bit surprising. He made the playoffs in four of his five seasons with the team and it was the first time since the 1990s that the New York Knicks won consecutive 50+ games. This Knicks team could be undergoing some significant changes with an exit like this in the postseason and it feels like this could have been decided as soon as the Indiana Pacers were able to steal Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Thibodeau coached 400 regular season games and the Knicks were 226-174 (.565) in those games while also winning the 2020-21 NBA Coach of the Year Award. However, his playoff record has been a bit uninspired as he has gone 24-23 with the New York Knicks in the playoffs during his tenure. With the team having to decide on a new coach and have little to move during the offseason, it will be interesting to see how this front office attempts to get back to this situation.
Could this be the first of a few moves that the Knicks make? ESPN’s Shams Charania posted on social media how the team believes a new voice will serve as the focus for the organization’s next step into a championship-winning team. It will be interesting to see what happens next for the team and who will be in the running for the next coach of the team. For Thibodeau, do not be surprised to see his name mentioned for the Phoenix Suns coaching search as he would be an interesting wrinkle. Of course, he still will be paid by the Knicks for the next two seasons so there is a chance he takes this upcoming season off from coaching.
