New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau watches from the sideline as they take on the Boston Celtics. David Butler II-Imagn Images

Analyst Believes Knicks Will Regret Coaching Decision

Originally posted on New York Knicks on SI
By Jeremy Brener | Last updated Aug 31, 2025 11:00 AM ET

It's been almost three months since the New York Knicks fired Tom Thibodeau and they are still catching strays from it.

NBA analyst Rachel Nichols was not a fan of the move, comparing it to the Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers back in February.

“They got to the Conference Finals and went to six games. So if you want to know whether the strategy works, yeah, it works. It worked. It happened," Nichols said h/t NBA Analysis Network.

“Like this is what drove me, I mean, we don’t have to relitigate Thibodeau, but the complaints we heard afterward, filter out is sort of justifications for why he got fired, it kind of felt like with the Mavs and the Luka trade."

“Thibs didn’t run enough end of game scenarios during training camp, that’s what was one of the gripes against him."

“Any of the quibbles with Thibs are only on paper. When you look at his track record, and every year in New York, what he did.”

The Knicks fired Thibodeau in June just days after the team was eliminated from the Eastern Conference Finals by the Indiana Pacers. The move came as a shock at the time, but it was after the team's exit interviews where the front office realized a change needed to be made.

"Our organization is singularly focused on winning a championship for our fans. This pursuit led us to the difficult decision to inform Tom Thibodeau that we've decided to move in another direction," Knicks president Leon Rose said in a statement back in June. "... Ultimately, we made the decision we feel is best for our organization moving forward."

While Thibodeau helped get the Knicks all the way to the Conference Finals from the lottery in five years, it wasn't enough for the organization to rely on him to take them further.

It remains to be seen if Mike Brown will be able to finish the job, but if he doesn't, many will look at the Thibodeau firing as a massive mistake for the Knicks.

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

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