Tom Thibodeau’s reward for leading the Knicks to their most successful season in 25 years was a pink slip, and now a team that came within two wins of an Eastern Conference crown is on the market for a new head coach.
It is clear that the Knicks believe that their turnaround ascended as high as it could with Thibodeau, who oversaw an organizational transformation that went from NBA laughing stock to Eastern Conference powerhouse. While team president Leon Rose looks for the final roster pieces of a championship puzzle, he will also have to find the right man to lead it all from the bench.
These are a few initial head-coaching candidates that could be on New York’s radar:
Mike Malone
Malone is the most obvious candidate to replace Thibodeau, but the pros and cons list is pretty equal.
Malone spent a decade with the Denver Nuggets and won a championship in 2023. He knows what it takes to get over the hump that the Knicks have stalled out before in four of the last five years.
But he is similar to Thibodeau in that he puts heavy minutes on his starters, which has derailed the Knicks time and time again, especially this year in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers.
During a tenuous season in which he called out his players for not properly preparing, he was fired just three games before the start of the playoffs after his relationship with management soured.
Dave Bliss
As the lead assistant with the Oklahoma City Thunder, his work creating one of the league’s top defenses, paired with their run to the NBA Finals this year, makes him one of the top candidates on the cusp of getting a head-coaching job.
The Phoenix Suns are already on the hunt, as Bliss has already interviewed with them and is considered one of the final five candidates for the job.
Bliss was a player-development coach with the Knicks during the previous decade under Derek Fisher and Jeff Hornacek.
Mike Brown
Perhaps one of the most experienced coaches available, Brown has been working on NBA benches since 1997 and held head-coaching gigs for 11 of them.
He has had only one full losing season as a head coach, most famously leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to LeBron James’ first Eastern Conference title in 2007. He also coached the Los Angeles Lakers and steered the Sacramento Kings to their first playoff appearance in 16 years two seasons ago.
Brown has never won a title as a head coach but spent six years as Steve Kerr’s assistant with the powerhouse Golden State Warriors.
Johnnie Bryant
Bryant was brought in to the Knicks by executive vice president William Wesley and spent four years on Thibodeau’s staff. He obviously has a good rapport with the front office and is getting head-coaching looks. Alongside Bliss, he is one of the final five candidates for the Suns job.
Jeff Van Gundy
After years as an analyst with ESPN, Van Gundy returned to the sidelines as an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers.
The former Knicks head coach was the last man to lead them to the Finals in 1999, and he would certainly be a sentimental hire that the fan base would celebrate. However, he has close ties to Thibodeau as the two were on the same Knicks staff during the mid-to-late 90s.
Van Gundy has not held an NBA head-coaching job in 18 years. Is that too long of a hiatus for a team that expects to make a run for a championship next season?
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