The NBA named former New York Knicks assistant coach Brendan Malone the winner of the 2023 Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award. Malone's honor comes just a few weeks after his son Mike guided the Denver Nuggets to their first NBA Finals victory as a head coach.
A Queens native and Iona alum, Brendan Malone was an NBA assistant coach from 1986-2016 for the Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Orlando Magic. His coaching career spanned nearly five decades, beginning at the Manhattan-based high school Power Memorial Academy and later working through several college programs (including two years as the University of Rhode Island's head coach).
Malone's first NBA assistant coaching position came with the Knicks from 1986-88, working under Hubie Brown, Bob Hill, and Rick Pitino. He would later move to Detroit, where he was a big factor in developing the "Bad Boys" Pistons and earned two championship rings (1989, 1990) in seven seasons in Motown alongside Chuck Daly, Ron Rothstein, and Don Chaney.
After a year as the inaugural head coach of the Toronto Raptors, Malone returned to New York in 1996 and was on head coach Jeff Van Gundy's regime until 2000. The Knicks posted the eighth-best record in the NBA in that span, finishing with a 177-119 record and reaching the 1999 NBA Finals. Malone would later serve under Jeff's brother Stan in Orlando (2007-12) and Detroit (2014-16).
Malone spent one more season in New York under Chaney in 2003-04 and had another brief stint as a head coach in the following season, taking over as Cleveland Cavaliers' interim boss after Paul Silas' firing.
The Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award was introduced in 2016 and is annually bestowed to "an assistant coach (current or inactive) who has had a storied career as an NBA Assistant Coach and has made a consistent substantial impact while on the bench."
While accepting the prestigious award, Malone said he was grateful for everyone who helped him for nearly 30 years in the NBA.
“I want to thank the National Basketball Coaches Association for this award,” Brendan Malone said in a statement. “Tex Winter was a man I got to know and respect. I also want to thank all of the Head Coaches that I enjoyed working with during my 29-year career in the NBA, in particular, Hubie Brown who brought me into the league, Chuck Daly and our two championships, the Van Gundys, Stan and Jeff, and Don Chaney. Lastly, I want to thank my wife Maureen and our six children for sharing my journey.”
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