Knicks fire head coach Tom Thibodeau after their best season in 25 years originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Knicks are parting ways with head coach Tom Thibodeau, who led New York to their first Eastern Conference finals in decades and four playoffs in five years, the team announced Tuesday.
ESPN Insider Shams Charania first reported the news on X. The team issued a statement from Knicks president Leon Rose confirming the development a short time later.
“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 statement began. “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,” it continued. “Tom will always be a part of our Knicks family and we truly wish him nothing but the best in the future.”
The Knicks were eliminated by the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, leaving them without a championship since 1973. The team went further than they’d gone in 25 years, just not as far as they hoped.
They signaled they were serious about making a run at the NBA title when they traded for Mikal Bridges in the summer and then Karl-Anthony Towns in a preseason blockbuster, adding a top perimeter defender and an All-Star center to a lineup headlined by Jalen Brunson.
Their all-in moves just couldn’t get them all the way there.
After Boston rolled to the 2024 title and brought back all its key players, the Celtics were viewed as strong favorites in the East. Yet after building gradually since Rose’s arrival as team president in 2020, the Knicks weren’t conceding anything to the champions.
They re-signed OG Anunoby to the largest contract in team history, then traded five first-round picks in the deal to acquire Bridges from Brooklyn. Just as they were set to begin training camp, the Knicks dealt two starters in All-Star Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, who had just set their single-season 3-point record, to get Towns from Minnesota.
The moves made the Knicks good enough to get past the Celtics in the second round. But it turned out to not be the right roster against the deep and speedy Pacers, who knocked them out for the second straight season.
“You make the moves to win, so it hurts to not be able to bring an opportunity to the city for a championship,” Towns said. “We’ve got a bunch of great guys in that locker room and the plan now is just to put ourselves in this position again and succeed next time.”
First, Rose and the front office will have to evaluate just how close the Knicks really are.
Their 51-31 record left them a distant third in the East behind Cleveland and Boston, and they went a combined 0-8 against those teams in the regular season before they finished off the Celtics in the second round after Jayson Tatum ruptured his Achilles tendon in Game 4.
With two All-NBA selections in Brunson and Towns, the starting lineup is one of the NBA’s strongest. The bench could use a boost, as the Knicks lack the solid depth of the Cavaliers and Celtics — and certainly of the Pacers.
Still, after being mostly miles away for two decades, the Knicks have turned themselves into a contender. They have won 50 games in back-to-back seasons and made the playoffs in four of five under Thibodeau. Even after Saturday’s defeat, there was belief that the Knicks will get another shot soon.
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