The New York Knicks parted ways with Tom Thibodeau after the team's disappointing defeat in the Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers.
It's something of a historic firing from the Knicks, who are moving on from Thibodeau on the heels of a 51-win season and back-to-back campaigns with 50 or more victories. In fact, Thibodeau becomes just the second head coach in NBA history to be fired by two different teams immediately following 50-win seasons, according to HoopsHype. The only other coach to experience such a fate was former Denver Nuggets and Seattle Supersonics coach George Karl.
Tom Thibodeau is the second coach in NBA history to be fired by two different teams following 50-win seasons (in Chicago and New York).
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) June 3, 2025
The first one was George Karl (Seattle and Denver).
In 2014-15, Thibodeau led the Chicago Bulls to a 51-31 season, but was unceremoniously ousted during the offseason and replaced by Fred Hojberg. Chicago proceeded to miss the playoffs in three of the next four years. Now, Thibodeau has once again been told to pack his bags after a 51-win season in New York.
Similar to Thibodeau, Karl was fired by the Sonics after the 1997-98 season in which Seattle won 61 games. He was then replaced by Paul Westphal. Years later, after nine seasons with the Nuggets, Karl was let go after the team won 57 games in the 2012-13 season.
Thibodeau spent five years with the Knicks, leading the franchise to the playoffs in four of those seasons. He logged a record of 226-174 across 400 regular season games in New York, but failed to achieve the team's goal of reaching the NBA Finals. In the unforgiving business that is the NBA, his inability to achieve those results cost him his job, despite the Knicks enjoying a strong season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Tom Thibodeau Makes Brutal NBA History With Firing From Knicks.
