Why Knicks Fired Tom Thibodeau for Mike Brown Revealed in New Rumors amid NBA Finals Run

One year ago, the New York Knicks made the decision to fire head coach Tom Thibodeau after a run to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The move paid off, as new head coach Mike Brown has led the Knicks to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999 and a 2-0 series lead against the San Antonio Spurs entering Monday night's Game 3.

The Athletic's James L. Edwards III detailed what led the Knicks to replace Thibodeau with Brown, reporting that league sources said they "wanted a collaborator, someone willing to experiment and bring a different voice."

Brown had been fired by the Sacramento Kings early in the 2024-25 season. He revealed that he accepted the possibility that he would never be a head coach in the NBA again.

"First of all, I have to thank (Kings owner) Vivek Ranadivé for giving me an opportunity. Obviously, it didn't work out," said Brown, who hadn't been a head coach since 2014 before being hired by Sacramento in 2022. "When I got fired, I really didn't think much of anything. My wife and I, we went to Sydney, Australia, to see UFC 313. We went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We went to St. Barts … I just wanted to have fun. If an opportunity came up, great. If it didn't, I felt lucky, blessed and fortunate. I had a good run. I hoped at some point I'd get another opportunity as a head coach or assistant coach. I just rolled with it and didn't think much about it."

The Knicks included Brown in their extensive coaching search, which also saw them reach out to several teams to inquire about the availability of their head coaches. Edwards noted that each team "kindly declined New York's request, and the franchise found itself staring at Brown as the lead candidate."

Brown's collaborative nature has been a strong departure from the previous regime, as there have been many times that he's leaned on his assistant coaches, many of whom were with the team under Thibodeau. As Edwards stated, New York's coaching staff "was no longer a dictatorship."

"In talking to people around the league, one of Brown's best qualities is that he doesn't want to be the smartest guy in the room," Edwards added, noting that Thibodeau had "rarely consulted" with his assistants in games during timeouts. "That's part of the collaborative process that attracted the Knicks to him."

Knicks-Spurs Highlights

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Brown's fresh approach to the Knicks now has them two wins away from winning their first NBA championship since 1973.

"Getting to this point felt like a mandate when Brown took the job. That was the vibe coming out of New York during its extensive coaching search. Brown could have been out of a job just as quickly if New York had fallen short in the postseason," Edwards reported. "Instead, the Knicks have put together, arguably, the most dominant postseason run the NBA has seen en route to the NBA Finals."