Knicks Fire Tom Thibodeau After Eastern Conference Finals Loss

The New York Knicks fired coach Tom Thibodeau after five seasons and their deepest playoff run in 25 years.

The decision comes two days after the Knicks were beaten in six games by the Indiana Pacers, who are the Eastern Conference representative in the NBA Finals. It also comes after the Knicks advanced further than expected with a relatively new core after knocking off the defending champion Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Thibodeau led the Knicks to back-to-back 50-win seasons for the first time since 1995. He would have been the club’s most successful coach by far over the past two-plus decades and signed a three-year extension with the team just last summer.

“Our organization is singularly focused on winning a championship for our fans,” team president Leon Rose said in a statement. “This pursuit led us to the decision to inform Tom Thibodeau that we’ve decided to move in another direction. We can’t thank Tom enough for pouring his heart and soul into each and every day of being the New York Knicks head coach. … Ultimately, we made the decision we feel is best for our organization moving forward. Tom will always be a part of our Knicks family and we truly wish him nothing but the best in the future.”

The firing also came after Knicks star point guard Jalen Brunson was asked about Thibodeau’s job status.

“Is that a real question right now?” Brunson said after the Knicks’ season-ending loss. “You just asked me if I believe he’s the right guy? Yes. Come on.”

Thibodeau has a lengthy history with the Knicks, dating back to the 1990s era, when he served as an assistant coach under Jeff Van Gundy. Rick Brunson, one of Thibodeau’s assistant coaches, played for those Knicks teams and often brought his son, Jalen, to practices and games.

Thibodeau is known for playing his starters big minutes even as the league moves toward utilizing rest in this load management era, which led to him playing his starting five more than any other five-man group in the NBA.

In March, new acquisition, Mikal Bridges, questioned the heavy minutes that the starters played under Thibodeau. It is notable due to Bridges being known as the “Iron Man” of the NBA, as he has played 556 consecutive games in the league, which makes him one of the more reliably healthy players in the NBA.

The Knicks were the veteran coach’s third head-coaching stop in the NBA, including time with the Chicago Bulls (2010-2015) and the Minnesota Timberwolves (2016-2019).

Thibodeau has a .579 career win percentage as a head coach, the highest by any coach without a Finals appearance in NBA history (minimum 300 games coached), according to ESPN Research.