The New York Knicks have fired head coach Tom Thibodeau, the group introduced Tuesday. The choice comes three days after the Knicks had been eradicated within the Japanese Convention finals by the Indiana Pacers in six video games. The Knicks entered the season hoping to win their first championship since 1973 after spending six first-round picks, a first-round swap, Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to accumulate Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Cities within the offseason. Nevertheless, regardless of their finest postseason since 2000, they finally failed to achieve the NBA Finals regardless of having home-court benefit within the Japanese Convention finals.
Thibodeau received 56.5% of his regular-season video games as Knicks head coach, going 226-174 total.
“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,” Knicks president Leon Rose mentioned in a press launch. “We can’t thank Tom enough for pouring his heart and soul into each and every day of being the New York Knicks head coach. He led us not only with class and professionalism for the past five seasons, but also to tremendous success on the court with four playoff berths and four playoff series victories. Ultimately, we made the decision we feel is best for our organization moving forward. Tom will always be a part of our Knicks family and we truly wish him nothing but the best in the future.”
The Knicks employed Thibodeau in 2020 to take over a group that had not reached the playoffs within the seven earlier seasons. He proceeded to instantly change that, successful Coach of the Yr with a 41-31 2020-21 marketing campaign. The Knicks missed the playoffs in 2022, however reached the second spherical in consecutive seasons afterward because of free-agent addition Jalen Brunson. With Brunson in place, the Knicks felt as if that they had a foundational piece and had been able to go all-in.
Bridges, who performed collegiately with Brunson and fellow Knick Josh Hart at Villanova, was speculated to arrive as a second 3-and-D star alongside OG Anunoby. He wound up having his worst 3-point taking pictures season since his rookie 12 months and declining significantly on protection. Cities proved to be a defensive subject in his personal proper regardless of thriving on offense.
In the meantime, years of taking part in his starters greater than every other coach started to catch as much as Thibodeau. Bridges mentioned publicly in March that taking part in so many minutes generally isn’t “fun on the body.” But Thibodeau didn’t relent, and partially because of this, the Knicks by no means developed a dependable bench.
They didn’t experiment with practically sufficient lineups, both. One main downside that developed all through the season was Hart’s poor taking pictures. The Knicks couldn’t efficiently run pick-and-roll between Brunson and Cities as a result of defenses had been placing their facilities on Hart in order that they might function further help-defenders. The Knicks may have countered this by inserting a shooter into Hart’s place within the lineup, with Deuce McBride incessantly talked about as a candidate. However the starters minus Hart performed solely 82 regular-season possessions with McBride. All different Knicks mixed performed solely 91 possessions alongside the four-man unit of Brunson, Cities, Anunoby and Bridges. Hart performed slightly below 1,900 along with his fellow starters.
Tom Thibodeau teaching file with Knicks
2020-21
41-31
Misplaced first spherical vs. Hawks
2021-22
37-45
Missed playoffs
2022-23
47-35
Misplaced second spherical vs. Warmth
2023-24
50-32
Misplaced second spherical vs. Pacers
2024-25
51-31
Misplaced East finals vs. Pacers
The Knicks entered the 2025 postseason as a No. 3 seed, the very best seed any Knicks group had earned in additional than a decade. It wasn’t at all times straightforward, however they managed to get by the Detroit Pistons in six video games within the first spherical after which stun the defending champion Boston Celtics in six video games within the second. With Boston defeated and the 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers eradicated on the opposite facet of the bracket, New York had its clearest path to the Finals in many years.
These hopes had been dashed by the eventual Japanese Convention champion Pacers, and far of what went mistaken in that collection has been laid at Thibodeau’s ft. Regardless of Josh Hart suggesting a beginning lineup change in personal through the Boston collection, Thibodeau caught with the most-used lineup within the NBA for the primary two video games towards Indiana.
The Knicks misplaced each at residence, and their starters misplaced their minutes by 29 factors. That unit was finally outscored by 31 factors within the postseason. They had been on the ground because the Knicks stunningly blew a nine-point lead within the remaining minute of Recreation 1, the loss which will have value them the collection. Thibodeau adjusted because the collection progressed, even getting good minutes out of seldom-seen reserves Landry Shamet and Delon Wright, however that led to additional questions on why it took two losses for him to make use of his bench within the first place. Ultimately, New York misplaced a winnable collection in six video games.
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Thibodeau — who signed a contract extension final summer season that was set to run by way of the 2027-28 season — leaves New York because the fourth-winningest coach in Knicks historical past behind Pink Holzman, Joe Lapchick and Jeff Van Gundy. Now the Knicks re-enter the teaching market with a powerful roster and a confirmed entrance workplace.
The job ought to be pretty enticing, and with a lot teaching turnover across the league over the previous few years, there isn’t any scarcity of certified candidates. However the bar is excessive right here. Thibodeau got here six wins in need of the championship. Anybody changing him will take the job figuring out that the Knicks are in championship-or-bust mode.
