The New York Knicks have their new coach.
Former Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown reached a deal to the helm, a person with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed to USA TODAY Sports on Friday, July 4. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.
Brown replaces Tom Thibodeau, whom the Knicks fired June 3.
With the hiring of Brown, the Knicks are putting their faith in the former Kings, Lakers and Cavaliers coach to get them to their first NBA Finals since 2000. In firing Thibodeau the organization made it clear anything short of a championship is not good enough.
Brown brings more than 23 years of NBA experience as a coach and assistant and a pedigree of working both in big markets and with star players. He had a brief stint in Los Angeles where he coached Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, but he has also worked with LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Tony Parker and, more recently, De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis.
As an assistant, Brown has worked under some of the best coaches in NBA history, inlcuding Bernie Bickerstaff, Gregg Popovich, Rick Carlisle and Steve Kerr. He has been either a coach or assistant of four NBA championship teams (three with the Warriors and one with the Spurs) and eight conference championship teams.
In fact, in first season as an assistant in San Antonio, in 2000-01, he coached a 35-year-old Kerr.
With the Knicks, Brown should have no problem carrying over the defensive identity that Thibodeau had installed over his time with the team. His true measure of success, however, aside from championship contention, will be to evolve New York’s offense to have more creativity with All-Stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns as the centerpieces.
In nine-and-a-half seasons as a head coach, Brown has posted a 454-304 (.599) record and an Eastern Conference Championship (2007; Cavaliers). The Kings fired Brown on December 27.
After crashing out in the NBA Eastern Conference finals, their deepest run in a quarter century, the New York Knicks were searching for a candidate who could get them to the Finals and their first championship since 1973.
Knicks president Leon Rose thanked Thibodeau in a statement but said, in part, ‘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.’
The move came a little less than one year since the Knicks had signed Thibodeau to a three-year contract extension that was supposed to keep him with the franchise through the 2027-28 season.
In five seasons with the Knicks, Thibodeau, 67, posted a 226-174 record (.565) and led New York to the playoffs in four of those seasons. This year marked the first time in 25 seasons that the Knicks had reached the Eastern Conference finals, though the Knicks lost the first two games of the series at home, before bowing out in six games to the Indiana Pacers.
The Knicks had made multiple win-now offseason moves ahead of the 2024-25 season in an attempt to compete with the defending champion Boston Celtics and other top teams in the East. New York traded Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo for stretch center Karl-Anthony Towns and also unloaded a haul of picks for wing Mikal Bridges.
The Knicks went on to win 51 games to finish third in the conference behind the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston.