The way the New York Knicks’ season ended was nothing short of crushing to the team’s fan base. Everything was going well. The team had made it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years and were playing great basketball, but after an unlucky Game 1 result, the Knicks never recovered. Eventually, they would lose to the Indian Pacers in 6 games. In a bit of a shocking development, the Knicks would fire their head coach, Thomas Thibodeau, after five seasons. Since then, it’s been radio silence out of New York.
In the days following the firing, it had become apparent that the Knicks hadn’t thought out their game plan for what the team would look like post-Thibs. According to The Athletic, the Knicks front office has earmarked five head coaches as replacements: Ime Udoka, Billy Donovan, Chris Finch, Quin Snyder, and Jason Kidd. For one, all of those names are currently employed and aren’t freely available. And, if reports are to be believed, none of them (outside of maybe Kidd) have been enthusiastic to step up, essentially leaving the Knicks on read. Some teams have even denied the Knicks as little as a conversation with coaches.
As information has trickled out following the team’s parting ways with Thibodeau, it seems like the Knicks had been planning this for a while. As originally reported by SNY’s Ian Begley, Thibodeau didn’t run scrimmages in practice, nor did he run practices centered around late-game scenarios. And despite most of the Knicks’ star players — namely Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart — giving their former coach nothing but props on what he did with the team, player input was reportedly in favor of letting Thibs go. This led to the Knicks firing Thibodeau shortly after the ECF had ended. But considering the frantic chain of events that have followed that decision, it seems like one big real-life rage quit.
Tom Thibodeau’s Firing From The Knicks Is A NBA 2K-Style Rage Quite
Anyone who’s played a franchise mode in any sports game has been here before. You have a good team with good players, and you’re competitive with the top dogs. You’ve spent a lot of (virtual) money, have meticulously planned everything out, and are ready for the ticker tape. Then, something goes wrong. The team you’ve constructed with such vigor has fallen short of expectations, even if everything ended up decently on paper. In a rage, you decide to shake things up.
That’s what all of this feels like (I’m a Knicks fan, I’d know). Even if the Knicks already had their mind made up about firing Thibs, their actions since have not reflected that. It looks disorganized and sloppy, much like it would if some random NBA 2K25 MyNBA player just decided to blow everything up during a temper tantrum.
To be as fair as I can be, the NBA offseason hasn’t even begun yet, with the NBA Finals between the Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder still ongoing. So there is plenty of time for the Knicks to find a coach and correct course. But man, it’s not a good look right now.
