The New York Knicks are set to kick off their 2025-26 season on Wednesday when they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in what may very well be a battle between the two best Eastern Conference teams on paper. However, despite all of the hype New York enters the upcoming season with, one former Knicks player shared a harsh prediction for how things will go for new head coach Mike Brown.
Entering the 2025 season, the Knicks have become a popular pick to make it out of the Eastern Conference due to injuries to fellow contenders in the conference like the Boston Celtics and the Indiana Pacers.
New York certainly seems to have the tools in place to make a deep run this coming season, retaining the core pieces of last year’s team that was one game away from reaching the NBA Finals, while bringing in an experienced coach in Brown to potentially help the team take a significant leap.
Former Knicks forward Matt Barnes, who knows about the pressure of playing in New York, and what it is like to play under Mike Brown, shared a different perspective on the Knicks’ decision to hire Brown. Instead of backing his former coach, Barnes recently laid out the reasons why he believes Brown is destined to fail in New York.
“Mike is a great person,” said Barnes. “He’s just not a leader of men. I couldn’t imagine it now because these kids are making so much money. You have to have the respect of them. I think Mike is such a nice guy. Mike wants to be cool with everyone instead of putting his foot down like ‘This is my team. This is what’s going on.’
“He was my coach with the Lakers. We had Mike when Phil Jackson retired. When I tell you, rest in peace to by dog Kobe & Ron Artest. They walked all over that motherf*****. They used to sub themselves in and out of games. I think he learned a lot in Golden State under Steve Kerr. I think Mike Brown is a great second chair. There is such a night and day difference sitting in the head coaching chair. I wish him the best. But I’ve seen in first hand in Sacramento. He lost the respect of the team quickly. Now, you are going to a New York media market where they are going to eat you up. I just don’t think the situation is going to work.”
One could certainly argue that this Knicks team is the most talented roster that Brown has ever coached aside from his assistant coaching days for the Warriors. So maybe talent will simply win out and New York will be top contenders in the Eastern Conference in spite of some of Brown’s faults as a coach.
Still, this prediction from Barnes certainly casts some doubt about the Knicks being the unquestioned top contender in the East moving forward as many have proclaimed them to be. So it will be interesting to monitor how the locker room in New York responds to Brown through the upcoming 2025-26 season.
2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.