The New York Knicks shocked the NBA world on Tuesday by announcing the firing of coach Tom Thibodeau after the franchise’s best five-season run since the turn of the millennium. Thibodeau, who spent five seasons in New York, was named the 2021 NBA Coach of the Year and had just led the Knicks to their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance since 2000.
Thibodeau’s firing wasn’t entirely out of left field, as his propensity for playing a tight rotation consistently returned to haunt his team. Knicks star Jalen Brunson defended Thibodeau after the Knicks’ elimination from the playoffs, but ownership still decided to go in the opposite direction and opt for a clean slate for next season.
Of course, with this decision comes speculation regarding the next Don of New York hoops and who that may be. From a hometown kid to a former Knicks assistant, here are three candidates who could find themselves in the Knicks’ coaching chair in 2025-26.
Michael Malone
Queens native Mike Malone already has a unique connection to Madison Square Garden. When his late father, Brendan, was the assistant coach at Syracuse University, Malone would shoot around at the Garden with Pearl Washington and some other Orangemen legends as they prepared for the Big East Tournament.
“When I was in high school, I’d shoot around on the Garden floor on the day of a game.”
Michael Malone was born to coach the Knicks 🗽 pic.twitter.com/noI9pd3j4j
— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) June 3, 2025
Perhaps it’s divine intervention that his unjust removal from his post with the Denver Nuggets now coincides with the opening of what is potentially a lifetime-defining job with his hometown team.
Malone is perhaps the most qualified candidate available for the Knicks at this juncture, and he brings recent NBA championship experience to whichever job he finds himself taking this offseason. If the Knicks pass on him, another organization is poised to get one of the league’s most competent head coaches.
Jay Wright
Jay Wright’s national championship-winning 2018 Villanova Wildcats are already the foundation this current iteration of the New York Knicks was built upon. That’s why bringing in the man who already knows how to get the best out of those pieces makes perfect sense.
Time to complete the circle pic.twitter.com/0VRqoHg07Q
— NBA University (@NBA_University) June 3, 2025
Besides his famously thin rotations, perhaps the biggest drawback to keeping Thibodeau for another season is that his coaching style has really gotten all that it could out of this Knicks roster.
If there’s any coach on the market who can be trusted to get the absolute most out of this group, it’s the guy who has already led Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges on one of the most dominant NCAA Tournament runs in modern history. Can you imagine the story if Wright leads those guys to an NBA title, too? It would legitimately be some of the greatest lore in NBA history.
Johnnie Bryant
After the Suns elected to hire his fellow Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott for their vacant head coaching position, one name in particular has emerged as a candidate for the Knicks chair in longtime NBA trainer and assistant coach Johnnie Bryant.
Bryant was the associate head coach for the Knicks from 2020 to 2024 before accepting the same role with the Cavaliers ahead of the 2024-25 season. Bryant’s previous experience with this roster, combined with the key contributions he made to a 64-win Cleveland group this season, makes him perhaps the most realistic candidate for the job.
Hiring Bryant also gives the Knicks a better chance at hiring the next Joe Mazzulla or Ime Udoka than hiring an already fired ex-NBA champion who was kicked to the curb by another franchise would.
