The Knicks are done flirting with other teams’ coaches (well… probably) and have settled into focusing on coaches currently available.
The Knicks are set next week to interview Taylor Jenkins (the recently-fired Memphis Grizzlies coach) and Mike Brown (a veteran NBA coach, most recently of Sacramento, where he helped them break their playoff drought), reports James Edwards III at The Athletic. However, they may not be alone, and the Knicks may not be done with coaches currently employed by other teams.
The Dallas Mavericks’ Jason Kidd and the Chicago Bulls’ Billy Donovan are two the New York might circle back to in the coming weeks, according to league sources. The belief around the league is that Kidd and Donovan are looking for contract extensions from their current franchises, and if those don’t materialize, they might be open to joining the Knicks.
In addition to Jenkins and Brown interviewing next week, New York is also expected to start contacting organizations to speak with assistant head coaches about the opening, per a league source.
That could open the door for New York to interview former Knicks assistant coach Johnnie Bryant, who is currently an assistant in Cleveland, was a finalist for the Phoenix Suns’ job, and is a favorite with a segment of the Knicks fan base.
New York fired Tom Thibodeau — who had just led the team to its first Eastern Conference Finals in 25 years — without an upgrade at coach lined up, or even a clear plan of succession in place. They reached out to five teams (that we are aware of) to inquire about their currently employed coaches, however, all five did not give New York permission to talk to those coaches.
Jenkins is the winningest coach in Grizzlies history, but was fired with three weeks to go in the season. He has a good reputation around the league, which remained intact after the firing, as the team went 4-9 without him (including the playoffs). There were reports he had lost the locker room, and in particular star Ja Morant, in large part because of a change in offensive philosophy this season — one pushed by team management.
Brown coached the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Eastern Conference Finals during the LeBron James era — where he developed ties with current Knicks power broker William “Worldwide Wes” Wesley — as well as coaching the Lakers and Kings. He also interviewed for the Knicks job in 2020, when it went to Thibodeau.
Whoever the Knicks hire as coach, they are not rushing into a deal. They will interview Jenkins and Brown, then possibly others (former Denver coach Michael Malone is out there, but league sources tell NBC Sports it’s a long shot that he gets his foot in the door, he is seen as too similar to Thibodeau). They will wait to see if the situation in Dallas or Chicago changes. With no other coaching vacancies, New York is not going to lose a candidate it likes to another team.
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