The New York Knicks are set to hire two-time NBA Coach of the Year Mike Brown as their head coach, according to multiple reports.
Brown, 55, was most recently head coach of the Sacramento Kings. The Kings hired Brown in 2022, and he led the team to back-to-back winning seasons before he was fired in December after a 13-18 start.
Brown will have big shoes to fill in New York.
The Knicks finished 51-31 under Tom Thibodeau in 2025, their best regular season win total since 2013. In the playoffs, New York made it to the conference finals for the first time in 25 years.
Since 2000, Thibodeau is the only head coach who has led New York for more than 300 regular season games. He also led the Knicks to more playoff wins than all the coaches from 2001 to 2020 combined.
Thibodeau went 226-174 in five seasons with the Knicks, advancing to the postseason four times.
New York fired Thibodeau in June after the team lost to the Indiana Pacers in six games in the conference finals.
Before his stint with Sacramento, Brown was an assistant with the Golden State Warriors — with whom he won three championships — as well as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers (twice) and the Los Angeles Lakers.
From 2005 to 2010, Brown led LeBron James and the Cavaliers to two 60-win seasons, as well as an NBA Finals appearance in 2007. He won his first Coach of the Year award in 2009.
He would next coach the Lakers, making the playoffs in 2012 before he was fired only five games into the following season.
Brown spent one more season in Cleveland, 2013-14, then joined the Warriors staff in 2016, spending six seasons with the club. He acted as head coach for 12 games during the 2017 playoffs while Steve Kerr was absent because of a back issue, posting a 12-0 record.
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In 2023, Brown was Coach of the Year again after he led the Kings to their first postseason appearance in 17 years. Sacramento won 46 games in 2024 but failed to make the playoffs after they lost in the Play-In Tournament.
In 758 career games, Brown has a 454-304 record, a .599 winning percentage. Not including the games he coached in place of Kerr, he also has a 50-40 record in the postseason.
The reported hire of Mike Brown as the New York Knicks' next head coach signals a strategic move towards rejuvenating fan interest and on-court success, despite recent struggles.
