Knicks' 'Top Players' May Have Played Role in Tom Thibodeau Firing

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Ashish Mathur | Last updated Jun 3, 2025 7:30 PM ET

Despite making the conference finals this year for the first time since 2000, the New York Knicks fired Tom Thibodeau as head coach on Tuesday.

Thibodeau was hired by the Knicks in 2020. The two-time Coach of the Year went 226-174 in the regular season and 24-23 in the postseason.

New York lost to the Indiana Pacers in this year's conference finals in six games. Thibodeau's group lost Games 1 and 2 at home.

According to Ian Begley of SNY, Knicks president Leon Rose fired Thibodeau after meeting with his “top players.”

New York owner James Dolan was in the meeting as well.

The way the Knicks conducted their season-end review of the organization was different than normal, as "top players" on the roster were called in to meetings that owner James Dolan was also present at, says @IanBegley

Eventually, those reviews led to the Knicks deciding to move… pic.twitter.com/Z7Aitholrr
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) June 3, 2025

The Knicks' two All-Stars are Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.

One can only assume that Brunson and Towns were in the meeting with Rose and Dolan.

“Our organization is singularly focused on winning a championship for our fans,” Rose said in a statement. “This pursuit led us to the decision to inform Tom Thibodeau that we’ve decided to move in another direction. We can’t thank Tom enough for pouring his heart and soul into each and every day of being the New York Knicks head coach.

“Ultimately, we made the decision we feel is best for our organization moving forward. Tom will always be part of our Knicks family and we truly wish him nothing but the best in the future.”

Thibodeau has coached the Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves and Knicks.

He has a .579 career win percentage as a head coach, the highest by any coach without a Finals appearance in NBA history (minimum 300 games coached), according to ESPN Research.

It's going to be very intriguing to see who Dolan and Rose hire to replace Thibodeau.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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