The New York Knicks began the offseason with an intense head coaching search after they fired Tom Thibodeau. During the search, they considered several different candidates, including those who were already coaches of another team.
Knicks tried to pursue Joe Mazzulla this summer
Eventually, they landed on Mike Brown, who wasn’t with another team. Some of the known coaches that they pursued despite them being with a different team include Rockets’ Ime Udoka and Mavericks’ Jason Kidd.
Additionally, it appears that New York tried to poach another head coach from a strong team.
“It’s been whispered the Knicks likely did some backchannel exploration to determine if there was any pathway to pursue Boston’s Joe Mazzulla. There obviously was not…then the Celtics extended Mazzulla’s contract,” NBA insider Marc Stein wrote on his Substack.
Mazzulla has been the Celtics’ head coach since 2022, after being an assistant with them for the previous three seasons. He has made the NBA Finals twice and won a championship in 2024.
Mazzulla would have been a good fit for the Knicks
He would have been a solid option for New York, as he has experience coaching an offensive-heavy unit like the Knicks envision under Brown. Furthermore, the championship experience would have also been valuable for a team that has title aspirations this year.
However, Boston was unlikely to let New York have the opportunity to snag Mazzulla from them, as best indicated by the extension he received from the Celtics during the offseason. The Knicks were swiftly turned away by multiple teams when they tried to poach their head coach, and the same likely would’ve happened with the Celtics.
Nevertheless, the Knicks will roll with Brown as they hope to finally snap the 52-year title drought this year. Their quest to do so begins on Wednesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.