Report: Tom Thibodeau Knew Knicks Could Fire Him During Celtics Series

According to Steve Popper of Newsday, Tom Thibodeau knew the New York Knicks could fire him during the Boston Celtics series. 

The Knicks wound up beating the Celtics in six games in the conference semifinals to advance to the conference finals for the first time since 2000. 

However, despite beating Boston, New York fired Thibodeau after losing to the Indiana Pacers in the conference finals. 

Thibodeau joined the Knicks in 2020. He went 226-174 in the regular season and 24-23 in the playoffs. 

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, too. 

“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.

Thibodeau has won the Coach of the Year Award two times (2011 with Bulls, 2021 with Knicks). 

According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, the Knicks are interested in Jason Kidd and Ime Udoka. Kidd coaches the Dallas Mavericks, while Udoka coaches the Houston Rockets. 

The Mavericks and Rockets are not expected to let the Knicks speak with Kidd and Udoka, respectively.