June 8, 2018; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers center Kendrick Perkins (21) during the second quarter in game four of the 2018 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors at Quicken Loans Arena. The Warriors defeated the Cavaliers 108-85 to complete a four-game sweep. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Analyst Accuses Knicks of Malpractice During Coach Search

Originally posted on New York Knicks on SI
By Henry Brown | Last updated Jun 17, 2025 7:00 AM ET

Despite finishing this past season within a round of the NBA Finals, no team has taken quite a beating to begin their offseason like the New York Knicks have throughout June.

Letting go of their award-winning coach in Tom Thibodeau immediately after he led the team to their best finish in 25 years was one thing, but the wild manner in which they've gone about trying to fill his role has incited criticism from everyone around the league with an opinion.

Their seemingly-reckless attempts at courting presently-employed NBA coaches and the firm rejections they've heard from other potential candidates inspires belief that the Knicks split with their coach of five years without a clear backup plan in place. Plenty of ESPN personalities have already pitched their takes on the spiraling search, with Kendrick Perkins most recently adding to the fire with some incendiary remarks of his own.

When asked of what he makes of the Knicks' process to fill the head coaching vacancy on Saturday's edition of SportsCenter, Perkins unloaded on the team. "A disaster," he answered. "Malpractice at its finest."

"If you're gonna fire a coach of Tom Thibodeau's status...then you have to replace him with a championship-level coach," he said. "You should've had a plan in place. They didn't. We're sitting up here watching the Knicks search around the NBA and try to visit other people's coaches, like, what type of stuff is that?"

Perkins isn't seeing anyone capable of handling the market and expectations that come with these Knicks on the open coaching market, save for Michael Malone, who was cut from the Denver Nuggets right before regular season's end.

The Knicks seem to have had more success with those sort of Malone-esque retread coaches that look to re-enter the job cycle, apparently taking Taylor Jenkins and Mike Brown seriously as similarly-fired lead coaches who've proven they can spearhead competitive teams.

Perkins goes on to credit Jenkins for the resume he build for himself with the Memphis Grizzlies and applaud Brown's most recent experience with the Sacramento Kings, eventually making the case for the latter if the wily Knicks had to move forward with one of those two options. They could soon regain control of their coaching hunt, but have a long way to go before they buy back the trust of the media.

This article first appeared on New York Knicks on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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