Knicks OK with coaching due diligence leading to denials

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News on Jun 11, 2025

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NEW YORK — The Knicks have cast a wide net in their head coaching search following their Eastern Conference finals loss to the Indiana Pacers — a defeat that ultimately led to the decision to part ways with Tom Thibodeau after the franchise’s most successful season in a quartercentury.

As part of that process, league sources tell the New York Daily News the Knicks have reached out to multiple rival organizations requesting permission to speak with opposing head coaches about the New York vacancy.

On Wednesday, the Atlanta Hawks (Quin Snyder) became the fourth team to decline the Knicks’ request, joining Dallas (Jason Kidd), Houston (Ime Udoka) and Minnesota (Chris Finch) in denying access to their head coach.

The Knicks are unbothered by the rejections, the News has learned. Internally, the outreach is viewed as routine due diligence — a necessary part of surveying the league’s top coaching minds for what they still believe is the most coveted job in basketball. Failing to explore those options, team officials believe, would be a failure of the process, and Snyder, Kidd, Udoka and Finch all have qualities the Knicks are looking for in their next coaching candidate, according to a league source.

And with Jordan Ott leaving Kenny Atkinson’s bench in Cleveland to take the Phoenix Suns job, the Knicks are now the lone team in the NBA with a coaching vacancy. But they are in no rush to fill it, according to a league source.

The Leon Rose-led front office remains “singularly focused” on winning a championship. With no active competition for available candidates, the Knicks are prepared to wait. They believe multiple qualified options remain on the board — and with the 2024-25 season still in the middle of the NBA Finals, the Knicks are using the time to evaluate every possible path forward.

With Ott off the board — and Snyder, Kidd, Udoka and Finch all unavailable — former Knicks assistant Johnnie Bryant remains a top candidate. So are several experienced coaches who were let go during the season, including Mike Brown (Sacramento), Mike Malone (Denver), Mike Budenholzer (Phoenix) and Taylor Jenkins (Memphis).

Malone and Budenholzer (Milwaukee) notably won championships in their respective markets.

Among rising assistants, Dave Bliss and David Akinyooye — both members of Mark Daigneault’s title-contending Oklahoma City Thunder staff — are drawing interest around the league. Lloyd Pierce, a former Hawks head coach and now Rick Carlisle’s top assistant in Indiana, is another name to watch. Royal Ivey, meanwhile, continues to build buzz after helping lead South Sudan to its first-ever Olympic appearance while serving as a lead assistant in Houston.

The Knicks could still pursue other currently employed head coaches, though without significant draft capital, they are unlikely to entice a rival team into parting with its lead voice.

Whoever the Knicks appoint as their next head coach will be stepping into a massive void.

Thibodeau oversaw the fourth-winningest era in franchise history, compiling a 226-174 record across five seasons in New York. He became the first Knicks coach since Pat Riley in 1993–94 to deliver back-to-back 50-win seasons and snapped a seven-year playoff drought, guiding the team to the postseason in four of his five years at the helm.

The expectation isn’t for the next coach to match Thibodeau’s success — it’s to surpass it. The Knicks understand that. It’s why they’re casting a wide net, why they’ve reached out to coaches who were never truly available, and why they’re in no rush to make a hire. With no other team in the league searching for a head coach, the Knicks are taking their time — determined to get this one right.

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