New York Knicks Hire 2x Coach of the Year Winner to Replace Tom Thibodeau
The New York Knicks have been searching for a new coach to replace the fired Tom Thibodeau, and it appears that they have landed on their decision. A month after they were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals and fired Thibodeau, the team is expected to hire coach Mike Brown as the team’s next head coach. Let’s take a deeper dive into the decision and what this means for the New York Knicks going forward.
New York Knicks Hire Mike Brown
ESPN’s Shams Charania is reporting that the New York Knicks are hiring coach Mike Brown to fill the vacancy at the position. While there were a lot of rumors of other candidates, his name continued to be part of the conversations and ultimately won the job. During that span, the New York Knicks requested permission to interview five current coaches and were denied before this hire.
This should not come as a massive surprise as Brown was considered the favorite to get the job. Brown has been an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards (1997-1999), San Antonio Spurs (2000-05), and Golden State Warriors (2016-22) so he has a lot of experience with winning teams. He has also had opportunities to show what he can do as a head coach as he coached the Cleveland Cavaliers 2005-2010), Los Angeles Lakers (2011-2012), Cleveland Cavaliers (2013-14), and most recently the Sacramento Kings (2022-25).
In his coaching career, he is 454-304 (.599 win percentage) in the regular season and 50-40 in the playoffs as he has made the NBA Finals once but was swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2007 NBA Finals. He has won two NBA Coach of the Year Awards as well, so there is a lot of respect with Brown as a coach. The conversation will now turn towards LeBron James as he could request a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers if they are not competitive and has a relationship with his former coach. It will be interesting to see how the Knicks look with coach Brown in charge.
