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Nov 4, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown reacts from the sideline against the Miami Heat during the second quarter at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Knicks Coach Mike Brown Talks Immediate NBA Return

Originally posted on New York Knicks on SI
By Geoff Magliocchetti | Last updated Jul 11, 2025 9:00 AM ET

Mike Brown was ousted from the NBA in a surprising firing despite ending one of the longest postseason droughts in the history of North American sports. Naturally, he happily signed up for more of that, the pressure perhaps increasing fortyfold with the New York Knicks.

Brown is officially back on an NBA ledger after the Knicks introduced him as the 32nd full-time head coach in franchise history, succeeding the ousted Tom Thibodeau. The hire comes just over six months after the Sacramento Kings bid him farewell in December, the first of several surprising severings in last year's Western Conference.

In his first statements as the Knicks head coach on Tuesday, Brown said there was little hesitance about immediately returning to the game despite a heartbreaking end to his Kings career.

"I'm passionate about coaching. I want to win," Brown said of his return in his debut conference broadcast on MSG Network. "You want to be in a great place that has like thinking, and so I know for me, especially speaking with [Knicks owner James] Dolan, speaking with [Knicks president] Leon [Rose] ... knowing who [Rose] is as a person, knowing that I'd love to partner with him."

Mike Brown David Richard-Imagn Images

Brown spent two-plus seasons at the helm of the Kings, amassing a 107-88 record in that span. The Kings were 13-18 at the time of his ousting in December, but some felt that he built up some leeway by ending the team's 16-year playoff drought with a 48-34 tally in 2022-23.

Such a lack stands as the longest of its kind in NBA history, passing the 15-year drought posted by the Los Angeles Clippers and it was the longest among the four conventionally-accepted North American sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL).

An NBA staple since he was one of the final hires of the Washington Bullets before their transformation into the Wizards in 1997, Brown landed unanimous Coach of the Year honors for getting the Kings back on the bracket, his second after winning one with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2009.

That, however, wasn't enough to keep him in California's capital, leading to his departure over the holiday season. Brown was later joined on the unemployment like by Taylor Jenkins of Memphis and Michael Malone of Denver later in the season.

Somehow, Brown has taken on a larger pressure cooker in New York, which has entered its fifth decade without an NBA championship celebration. The Knicks reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000 last time around but that wasn't enough to extend Thibodeau's metropolitan lifespan.

The spotlight is thus firmly centered on Brown, who was firmly attracted to New York by such expectations, its final four-worthy roster, and the fact that his fiancée Roe is a "foodie."

"When you when you combine all those things, it was a no-brainer for me," Brown said. "The league is the league, and there's always going to be ebbs and flows in terms of how the hiring and firing process goes and you just embrace it. You keep moving forward."

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

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