Before Game 3 of the NBA Finals, the NBA TV panel — Steve Smith, Jared Greenberg, Candace Parker, and Charles Barkley — touched on a range of topics, but none struck a louder chord than the New York Knicks’ ongoing head coaching dilemma.
Leave it to Barkley to cut straight to the point.
“The Knicks gotta be the stupidest damn people in the world,” Barkley said. “You don’t fire no good head coach like that without a plan. I mean, Thibs did a hell of a job. Obviously something’s going on in there, but you don't have a plan? And now, three coaches turned you down…you gotta have a plan, man…I don’t know what the hell they’re going to do.”
Charles Barkley pulled no punches on the Knicks and their mistakes
It was classic Barkley — blunt, fiery, and painfully accurate. His comments came in response to the Knicks striking out on five coaching inquiries: Jason Kidd (Mavericks), Ime Udoka (Rockets), Chris Finch (Timberwolves), Billy Donovan (Bulls), and Quin Snyder (Hawks) — all teams that swiftly denied the Knicks permission to speak with their current head coaches.
Now the Knicks are the only remaining team in the NBA without a head coach.
It’s a troubling place to be, especially for a franchise fresh off an Eastern Conference Finals appearance and expected to build on its success. Instead, they're stuck at square one, sifting through limited options in the free-agent coaching pool while repeatedly getting shut down by teams with established leadership.
The free-agent landscape isn’t exactly inspiring either. Michael Malone, one of the few available coaches with an NBA title, hasn’t been tied to New York. Johnnie Bryant, a respected assistant who spent four years under Tom Thibodeau and was recently a finalist for the Suns’ job, has yet to emerge as a frontrunner. And Jay Wright, the former Villanova head coach with strong ties to Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart, has already made it clear — he’s not interested in coaching in the NBA.
So where does that leave the Knicks?
That’s the million-dollar question. While fans initially assumed Thibodeau’s job was safe after the team’s deep playoff run, the front office clearly had other plans — just no backup strategy for executing them.
Now, as trade rumors heat up across the league — including murmurs around Kevin Durant — New York might find itself needing to make a move faster than anticipated. The right hire could be crucial in anchoring or accelerating those kinds of franchise-altering decisions.
But until that hire is made, the Knicks are again playing a dangerous game with their public image and organizational direction. This is, after all, the same team that cycled through five head coaches in six years between 2014 and 2020.
Whether a plan exists behind closed doors or not, Barkley’s words resonate: you can’t fire a good coach without a better plan in place.
And right now, it looks like the Knicks are still searching.