Twice-Fired Cavs Coach Mike Brown Needed Cleveland Experience To Win NBA Title

Mike Brown and the Cleveland Cavaliers have plenty of history that led to the 56-year-old's first NBA title as a head coach.

May 25, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown reacts in the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers during game four of the eastern conference finals for the 2026 NBA playoffs at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images | David Richard-Imagn Images

Mike Brown is an NBA champion following the New York Knicks’ victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

Brown coached the Cavs on two different occasions, being fired twice within the same decade. But those experiences helped craft an NBA championship-winning head coach, even though the Cavs weren’t the team that got to relish in the success.

The Columbus, Ohio native arrived in Cleveland before the 2005 season to coach LeBron James. The pair spent five seasons together, before Cavs owner Dan Gilbert fired Brown in an attempt to keep LeBron in Cleveland.

Immediately after being fired by the Cavs, Brown found himself in charge of the Los Angeles Lakers, who were trying to pair an aging Steve Nash and Dwight Howard around Kobe Bryant. Naturally, that project failed, and Brown found himself without a job once again.

That’s when Gilbert called firing Brown a mistake, bringing the head coach back to Cleveland. The Cavs were building in the right direction and had 21-year-old Kyrie Irving with 22-year-olds Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters plus the No. 1 overall draft pick.

The Cavs used the No. 1 overall selection on Anthony Bennett, who has gone down as one of the biggest busts in NBA Draft history. The Cavs dealt with plenty of injuries that season, including to Bennett, who appeared in just 52 games, making zero starts despite being the No. 1 overall pick.

That offseason, Brown was fired again as the Cavaliers successfully recruited James back to Cleveland for a second stint.

Brown’s Cavaliers were never bad. 

The first team overachieved with James before he even entered his prime, reaching the 2007 NBA Finals where they were swept against the Spurs. Almost two decades later, Brown’s Knicks were able to defeat those same Spurs, making him an NBA champion for the fifth time, his first as a head coach.

The second team was young and on the rise, but underwhelmed partially due to injuries. 

After Brown was fired the second time, he spent two seasons away from the NBA before joining Steve Kerr’s staff with the Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors had just gone 73-9 and blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals against LeBron and the Cavs. In 2017 and 2018, Brown got his revenge as Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry were too much for the Cavaliers to handle. He won another championship with Golden State as an assistant coach in 2022.

All of that success as an assistant coach led to Brown getting a fourth head coaching position, this time with the Sacramento Kings. He led them to the postseason for the first time since 2006 but was fired in 2024.

That’s when the Knicks decided to bring him in. And it paid off in a major way. In Brown’s first season coaching the Knicks, he solidified himself as a New York legend by sweeping the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals while easily handling the Spurs in five games. 

Now, the Cavs will hope that head coach Kenny Atkinson can get the best of Brown in the 2027 NBA Playoffs.