Karl-Anthony Towns praised Tom Thibodeau for building the New York Knicks' core foundation and structure that led to their 2026 NBA title run.
Karl-Anthony Towns still has nothing but love and respect for Tom Thibodeau, despite the former New York Knicks coach not being the one who led them to this year’s championship.
In an interview with The New York Times, Karl-Anthony Towns discussed both Thibodeau and Mike Brown and ultimately praised the former Knicks coach for laying the foundation that paved the way for New York to reach the top.
"Both coaches did an amazing job. One took us to the Eastern Conference Finals, where we just came up short. The other inherited the same team that Thibs built and, from afar, was able to bring his own coaching style and personality to help us find a way to win a championship. But that's not a testament to Thibs not being the guy or not being good enough," Towns argued.
"He's always been good enough, and he has a championship to show for it as well. Thibs is an amazing coach and an amazing person. Seeing his growth from when I was with him in Minnesota to my time with the Knicks has been incredible, and it's brought us even closer. Thibs deserves a lot of credit for this."
Karl-Anthony Towns praises Mike Brown for leading Knicks' NBA title run
The New York Knicks' rise into one of the NBA's best all began upon Tom Thibodeau's arrival in 2020.
Behind Thibodeau's leadership, the Knicks finally savored relevance as a competing team. New York reached the NBA Playoffs in four of five seasons and posted a 226-174 overall record.
However, after guiding the Knicks to their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 25 seasons, he was shockingly fired following their six-game defeat to the Indiana Pacers last year.
Mike Brown took over and inherited the Knicks from Thibodeau, and the rest was simply history.
After clinching 53 regular-season wins, the Brown-led Knicks conquered and delivered one of the great playoff runs of all time, winning their first NBA title since 1973 in a dominating 16-3 finish.
"He built off the amazing foundation that Thibs had set and added his own swag and flavor to it," Karl-Anthony Towns said of Brown. "I think he did a great job of finding the right combinations that worked. Landry Shamet was huge in the playoffs, and shoutout to Ariel Hukporti as well for stepping up during big moments when we needed him. Mitchell Robinson, Jose Alvarado, Mohamed Diawara, and many others also made a major impact. Tyler Kolek played some amazing basketball during the year when [Jalen Brunson] got hurt.
"Mike did a great job of putting the right players in the right situations at the right time. Shoutout to him — it was an amazing chess game he played.
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