Kendrick Perkins is backing Tom Thibodeau.
The New York Knicks fired Thibodeau on Tuesday following a season in which they made the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years. They sent the 67-year-old packing following five largely successful seasons in charge and back-to-back 50-win seasons.
Perkins took to the air on ESPN and defending Thibodeau, who was an assistant with the Boston Celtics during Perkins' time with the team.
"Thibs didn't deserve to lose his damn job, we not gonna do this," Perkins said.
Perkins speculated that Thibodeau's decision to bench Karl-Anthony Towns at times during the conference finals against the Indiana Pacers had something to do with his firing. He defended the move, as defensive lineups with Towns weren't stopping the Pacers from scoring. At one point he asked, "What was Tom Thibodeau supposed to do?"
Video of the segment is below.
"[Tom Thibodeau] didn't deserve to lose his damn job."@KendrickPerkins reacts to the news that Tom Thibodeau is out as the Knicks coach after 5 seasons. pic.twitter.com/UAfX23vfSK
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 3, 2025
Thibodeau posted a 226–175 (.565) record in his five seasons with the Knicks and took them to the playoffs four times. New York better have a dynamite hire lined up because people around the NBA are shocked at Tuesday's move.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Kendrick Perkins Has Passionate Reaction to Knicks Firing Tom Thibodeau.
