Tom Thibodeau. Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Kevin Love, LeBron James troll Knicks over Tom Thibodeau firing

By Steve DelVecchio | Last updated Jun 4, 2025 8:16 AM ET

The New York Knicks have been widely criticized for their stunning decision to fire head coach Tom Thibodeau, and a pair of NBA champions were quick to make their feelings on the move quite clear.

Thibodeau was fired by the Knicks on Tuesday despite leading the team to the Eastern Conference Finals. That was the deepest postseason run New York has had since 2000. The Knicks also won 50 or more games in each of the last two seasons and made the playoffs in four of five years under Thibodeau.

Shortly after the news surfaced, Kevin Love shared a funny video on Instagram of Vince McMahon delivering his patented "you're fired!" line to various WWE personalities.

"James Dolan bringing Thibs into his office after he took the Knicks to their first Eastern Conference Finals in 25 years," Love captioned the video.

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A post shared by Kevin Love (@kevinlove)

Love's post had nearly 50,000 likes as of Tuesday evening, so a lot of people appreciated it. LeBron James was among those who reacted to the video. The Los Angeles Lakers star simply commented with seven laughing face emojis.

Thibodeau may not have been perfect, but it is practically unheard of for a coach to be fired after enjoying the type of success he had with the Knicks. New York exceeded expectations this season by almost every metric.

Love and LeBron are far from the only two people laughing at the Knicks over their shocking move.

Steve DelVecchio

Steve is a veteran writer who has covered a variety of sports and pop culture topics for more than 15 years. In addition to Yardbarker, his work has been featured on prominent digital publications including Larry Brown Sports, MSN and FOX Sports. The UConn graduate has published more than 40,000 stories and is one of the most experienced trending news writers in the country

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