When the Knicks abruptly fired Tom Thibodeau, the overriding consensus was that they had a plan in place for his successor. With each passing day, it would appear that they never did.
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that both the Rockets and Timberwolves rejected requests from the Knicks to interview their respective head coaches, Ime Udoka and Chris Finch.
The report emerged shortly after The Athletic’s Sam Amick noted that Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, the Knicks’ other target, prefers to remain in Dallas instead of moving to New York.
Now, the Knicks may be compelled to turn to former head coaches without an active job — Michael Malone, Mike Budenholzer, Taylor Jenkins or Mike Brown — or perhaps a newcomer like Johnnie Bryant, who served on Thibs’ staff for four years. Regardless of the route they take, the incoming head coach would have every right to feel like the “last resort” after the Knicks’ publicized interest in active coaches.
Veteran NBA coach P. J. Carlesimo believes the Knicks have shown their incompetence with how they’ve handled their coaching situation.
“That’s the Knicks. They don’t know what they’re doing,” he told The Ringer’s Ryen Russillo. “They are their own worst enemy. They’ve been their own worst enemy…I thought [Thibs] did a great job. Where are they going? I don’t know who made the decision…I don’t believe the players made the decision.”
With just a few weeks left until the 2025 NBA Draft, the Knicks remain the only team with a head-coaching vacancy. The Nuggets (David Adelman), Grizzlies (Tuomas Iisalo), Kings (Doug Christie) and Suns (Jordan Ott) have all named replacements for their recently axed coaches. Typically, teams prefer having a head coach in the war room during draft night, given the significance of decisions that could shape the roster.
