Isiah Christie
The National Basketball Association (NBA)’s New York Knicks are fresh off a successful run that resulted in an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, which rendered them one of the final four teams standing. Although they ultimately lost that round to their rival Indiana Pacers, this buzzing effort from the Manhattan team resonated heavily with a city so starved of basketball success. The Knicks had not reached the Eastern Conference Finals since 2000, a quarter-century ago – and as a result, their number-one goal this summer has been figuring out how to build on this momentum.
The first of many major changes for the team was firing fan favorite coach Tom Thibodeau, who began coaching the franchise in 2020. Thibodeau ushered in New York’s most prosperous period since their 1990s glory days, reaching the postseason on four occasions and leading the aforementioned Conference Finals run. The team’s four playoff berths in five years was more than they had achieved during the entirety of the fifteen years prior, therefore cementing Thibodeau as an organizational legend. However, he had been largely criticized for having a perceived cap to his success – he possessed the leadership and player connections to establish a winning culture in his team, but could not lift them to the golden goal of a championship. As a result, management fired him in a bout of doubt, believing another coach was the answer to maximizing success.
Following Thibodeau’s firing on June 3rd, 2025, the Knicks had gone almost a month with a questionable coaching vacancy that left pundits questioning their direction. Firing a long-tenured coach is hardly unheard of in the NBA, but lacking a plan so blatantly is not – the organization had attempted to contact a myriad of hired coaches around the league in hopes of prying them away from their teams, but were constantly denied. A lack of coaching establishment was beginning to eat at their culture, and they needed a solution.
Their choice of fix was veteran coach Mike Brown, who began his coaching career in 2006 with the Cleveland Cavaliers and then-young basketball icon LeBron James. Brown has coached two franchises since in the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings, and was voted Coach of the Year on two occasions – in 2009 and 2023. Brown’s most recent stint in Sacramento, aside from the aforementioned Coach of the Year, also included a run to the playoffs – something the California capital had not seen amidst a record-breaking seventeen year postseason drought.
Brown’s hiring by New York has been met with mixed reception, but will at least help stabilize a contender that looks to build on a recent wave of success. He is known for his offensive proficiency, which should work well with New York’s two stars in Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. He is also a noted players’ favorite in the coaching realm and is bound to get proper effort and focus out of his rotation. Concerns about Brown largely revolve around similar reasons to what got Thibodeau fired. However, he is not known for maximizing the potential of his teams, and is prone to dry spells of poor coaching that opposing staffs exploit.
Regardless, the legendary coach’s stint in New York should be one to remember as they gear up for the 2025-26 NBA season. They are expected to dominate what will be a historically weak Eastern Conference, leaving their path to the NBA Finals wide open. It is hard to determine if they will see the big stage for the first time since 1999, but Brown is seen as the catalyst to getting them there – so Manhattan certainly has high expectations.
