The Knicks are nearing a deal to sign Mike Brown as their new head coach, news that broke nearly one month to the day that the team fired Tom Thibodeau following the franchise’s best season in a quarter century.
The Knicks are expected to hire Brown, a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, according to multiple reports. A representative for the Knicks did not immediately respond to a request for comment. No anticipated terms of Brown’s contract were reported. The Knicks still reportedly owe Thibodeau around $30 million after signing him to an extension last year.
Brown, 55, most recently coached the Kings. He was fired after Sacramento started the 2024-25 season 13–18, although the prior season he led the franchise to its first playoff appearance in 16 years. Brown is an extremely experienced coach, having served as head honcho for the Cavaliers, Lakers and Kings with a total regular season record of 454–304, plus 50 playoff wins. Brown’s firing came in December, months after the Kings signed him to a reported three-year, $30 million extension last May.
He won NBA Coach of the Year in 2009 with the Cavs during LeBron James’ first stint in Cleveland, and again with the Kings in 2023. He has made the NBA Finals as a head coach once, in 2007 (the Spurs swept the Cavs). He stepped in and effectively served as head coach for part of the 2016–17 Finals when Steve Kerr was dealing with back issues, and has won four championships as an assistant coach (in 2003 with the Spurs and in 2017, 2018 and 2022 with the Warriors).
The anticipated hiring of Brown comes as the Knicks have been making moves to improve their bench. Although teams can’t formally sign free agents until July 6, the Knicks are expected to sign Jordan Clarkson, a former Sixth Man of the Year winner, as well as big man Guerschon Yabusele, who impressed in the 2024 Paris Olympics and last year played for the 76ers.
The Knicks fired Thibodeau on June 3, not long after the team was eliminated in the Eastern Conference finals by the Pacers. Thibodeau, 67, was one of the most successful Knicks coaches ever and the most successful coach in more than two decades. Under Thibodeau, the Knicks made the playoffs four times in five seasons.
Brown marks the second head coach hired by team president Leon Rose, who joined the Knicks in 2020 and has been at the helm of a major turnaround. Over the last month, Rose reportedly interviewed numerous candidates before landing on Brown. The Knicks also tried but were denied the opportunity to interview several sitting head coaches including Jason Kidd of the Mavericks, Ime Udoka of the Rockets, Chris Finch of the Timberwolves, Quin Snyder of the Hawks, and Billy Donovan of the Bulls.
