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Sep 23, 2025; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown speaks to the media during a media day press conference at the Madison Square Garden training center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Ex-NBA Veteran Gets Critical of Knicks' Mike Brown

Originally posted on Fastbreak on SI | By Justin Grasso | Last updated Oct 20, 2025 9:14 AM ET

The stakes are high for Mike Brown and the New York Knicks.

On one hand, Brown is one of the most fortunate head coaches in the game. He inherited one of the most talented rosters in basketball. The Knicks just proved they could make a run to the Eastern Conference Championship.

On the other hand, the pressure is heavier than it ever was during his tenure with the Sacramento Kings. Brown picks up with a team that won over 50 games and collected two series victories in the playoffs.

As the former outspoken NBA veteran Matt Barnes assesses the situation from the outside looking in, he’s admittedly not confident in Brown’s long-term fit with the Knicks in the Big Apple.

“The one thing about Mike Brown is that, that first year is always good,” Barnes recently said.

“Mike is a great person, just to me, he’s not a leader of men. I couldn’t imagine it now because these kids are making so much money, you have to have the respect of them. I think Mike is such a nice guy, that’s what [expletive] Mike up. Mike wants to be cool with everyone instead of putting his foot down like, ‘This is my team, this is what’s going on.’”

Barnes doesn’t have any ties to the Knicks, and the same can be said about the Kings over the past few years. However, Barnes played for the Los Angeles Lakers when Brown took over as the head coach for two seasons. He would last 71 games there before getting fired.

“I’ve seen it,” Barnes stated. “He was my coach with the Lakers. We had Mike after Phil Jackson retired.”

Barnes revealed that star players like Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest would “walk all over” Brown when he was leading the Lakers. If managing stars isn’t a quality that Brown improved, then he might just have a difficult time in New York, as the Knicks have one of the most top-heavy rosters in the league.

Plus, the market itself can have a major effect on a coach or a player. In Barnes’ eyes, he believes the New York market will “eat him up.”

“I wish him the best, but I’ve seen it firsthand in Sacramento,” the ex-NBA guard concluded. “His first year, came in, brought Golden State’s system and they made the playoffs for the first time probably since a lot of you were born, and then he lost the respect of the team quickly.”

Brown’s stint with the Kings would last three years. He went 48-34 in year one, making the playoffs, before losing 3-4. In year two, the Kings achieved a winning record of 46-35, but missed the playoffs. Last year, the Kings were at 13-18 before Brown was forced to part ways with Sacramento.

The head coach is in charge of his fourth different team since 2005. It’s been over a decade since he led a team beyond the first round of the playoffs, but Brown still gets a fresh start with the Knicks.