The New York Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau on Tuesday, June 3, three days after the team lost to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals, despite his leading the team to their deepest run in 25 years. During the next few weeks, fans and players alike will talking about who will replace him.
The move comes 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.
Conventionally speaking, teams would like to have a head coach in place by the time the NBA Draft arrives June 25. The team won’t be much of a player in the draft, as they don’t have a first-round pick and their second-round pick is No. 50 overall.
The roster is mostly intact and signed for next year, with the only unrestricted free agents being reserves Precious Achiuwa and Landry Shamet.
There will be a number of candidates whom the team could go after, starting with one who used to be on their bench.
Johnnie Bryant
Bryant was an associate head coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers last season and spent four years with the Knicks under Thibodeau. The 39-year-old started his coaching career in 2012 with the Utah Jazz as a player development assistant before being promoted to assistant head coach two years later. Bryant is reportedly a candidate for the open Phoenix Suns job.
Jordan Ott
Another hot Cavaliers assistant is Ott, and he is also a finalist for the Suns job. Under the tutelage of head coach Kenny Atkinson, who won the NBA Coach of the Year award, Ott helped a Cleveland team that had the league’s top offensive rating and No. 8 defensive rating, led by Defensive Player of the Year, Evan Mobley.
Michael Malone
The no-nonsense Malone led the Denver Nuggets to the title in 2023, but was fired just a week before the playoffs in a move that stunned the league. Malone stresses defense, and the Knicks had glaring deficiencies at times when Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns were on the floor, but despite that, New York had a 113.3 defensive rating in the regular season, good for fifth in the league.
Taylor Jenkins
Another head coach who was unceremoniously given the boot before the playoffs, Jenkins led Memphis to a 44-29 record and the fifth seed in the Western Conference. He is the franchise leader in wins with 250. Memphis made the play-in tournament and was subsequently swept in four games by the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder this season.
Mike Brown
Knicks fans are certainly familiar with Brown as he was a possible head coach candidate with the team twice in the past 10 years. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, and was fired by the Sacramento Kings in December after the Kings got off to a 13–18 start.
Mike Budenholzer
Terry Stotts
Stotts, an assistant for Golden State, knows stars and knows offense – he coached Damian Lillard in Portland where Stotts regularly produced top-10 offenses. Stotts was 402-318 in nine seasons with the Trail Blazers, including three 50-win campaigns. He led them to the Western Conference finals in 2019.
Adrian Griffin
Griffin had a short run as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks and was 30-13 when the Bucks fired him midway through the 2023-24 season. The former NBA player and longtime NBA assistant is expected to get another chance with an NBA team.
Darvin Ham
Ham lasted two seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, going to the conference finals in 2023 and losing in the first round last season. Ham, who spent several seasons as an assistant for Budenholzer in Atlanta and Milwaukee, returned to the Bucks this season as an assistant for Doc Rivers.
Wild cards
- Sam Cassell, Boston Celtics assistant coach
- Chris Quinn, Miami Heat associate head coach
- Dan Hurley, University of Connecticut head coach
- Jay Wright, former Villanova head coach