Even after being fired as head coach of the Knicks, Tom Thibodeau has a ton of reasons to be happy.
Days after Thibodeau’s fifth season ended, which included back-to-back 50-win seasons for the first time since the Pat Riley era and the team’s first appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals in 25 years, New York fired him. However, there was a golden parachute attached to his discharge.
Before the 2024–25 season began, Thibodeau signed a lucrative contract extension. With one year left and several years left, Madison Square Garden will be responsible for the difference, a lump sum that Derrick Rose, a longtime Thibodeau understudy and former Knicks point guard, claims his coach is enjoying despite his recent unemployment.
Are you aware of what’s crazy? As the grand marshal at the NASCAR Chicago Street Race on Sunday, Rose told reporters, “I spoke to Thibs, and he’s good.” When you walk away with $30 million, I don’t think you can be angry. You can’t feel sorry for him too much. However, he is in a cheerful mood. We’re locked in till the very end, that’s my guy.
Rose, who reconnected with Thibodeau in Minnesota and New York after sharing his MVP run with him in Chicago, described the firing as a win-win situation for all parties. Thibodeau leaves with a stable income. With a strong roster that includes All-NBA guard Jalen Brunson, the Knicks are still in a strong position to compete in the Eastern Conference.
Rose remarked, “He’s good, Jalen is still in New York, and he’s going to be ballin.” It seems to me that everyone gains.
With 226 victories, Thibodeau leaves New York having surpassed Pat Riley to take fourth place on the Knicks’ all-time wins list, behind only Jeff Van Gundy, Joe Lapchick, and Red Holzman. In an attempt to win the team’s first championship in more than 50 years, the Knicks are anticipated to announce the hire of Mike Brown, a former Sacramento Kings head coach and two-time NBA Coach of the Year, as their 32nd head coach.
Thibodeau’s time as the Knicks’ most successful contemporary era is cemented by his.565 winning percentage, which ranks sixth in the team’s history. He was hired in 2021, and in his first season, he snapped a seven-year playoff drought. In his five years as head coach, he guided New York to the postseason four times. The Knicks made it past the first round in three of those postseason trips, which is unusual for a team that has been stuck in mediocrity for decades.
Following stints with the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves, Thibodeau’s third head coaching job was in New York. He has a 578-420 record over 11 seasons, including a 48-55 postseason record.
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The Knicks management office is still figuring out how to get around the second apron’s restrictions.
Guerschon Yabusele, a free agency forward, was reportedly signed by the Knicks for $200,000 less than the taxpayer mid-level exception. There was barely enough leeway to sign another player to a veteran minimum contract because of the narrow but crucial cushion for a squad that was on the verge of the restrictive second apron. The Knicks would have needed to surrender the contract of another player to make room for a minimum player if Yabusele hadn’t been selected for the entire mid-level.
The top seven rotation players from last year’s run to the conference finals are still with New York going into the new season. However, improving bench production—its weakest link—was the front office’s top priority.
Jordan Clarkson, a previous Sixth Man of the Year who started all 61 of his games in the 2022–23 season, joined Yabusele. Clarkson has scored more points off the bench than any other player in the last five years, which is an incredible accomplishment.
Yabusele and Clarkson work together to provide the Knicks’ second unit, which finished worst in the NBA in points per game the previous season, the size, variety, and scoring power it needs to contend for a title.
