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Knicks Have Reportedly Made Decision on Jay Wright Coaching Pursuit
The New York Knicks made the shocking decision to fire Tom Thibodeau after he coached the team to its deepest playoff run in decades. Now, the franchise will not let its foot off the expectation-mobile's accelerator, but will welcome a new coach to try to get the team further next season.
Plenty of names have been floated. Jason Kidd and Ime Udoka, currently Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets heads, respectively, are thought to be options, but require approval from their incumbent teams to even participate in interviews. Other flashy names exist in the proverbial free agent coaching market.
Among those, technically speaking, is Jay Wright, who coached Villanova to two titles in 2016 and '18. The Knicks roster Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges, each part of the 2016 title-winning team coached by Wright (Brunson and Bridges were also a part of '18). The fit is obvious given the experience key pieces of the roster have with Wright.
Previous reporting has indicated that there was little chance of Wright even entertaining the job, considering he is enjoying his retirement. Now, we've learned the New York Knicks understand that too and won't be pursuing the longtime Nova coach, according to Ian Begly of SNY.
Next. Thibs replacements. Four Potential Tom Thibodeau Replacement Options. dark
"Leon Rose & Wright have a close relationship and speak regularly. Because of that, Rose knows Wright is very happy as a retiree, per league source. So Wright is not a candidate for the job, league source said," Ian Begly reported on Saturday.
Sounds like that's that. While the Knicks could have attempted to convince Wright otherwise, all indications are they won't. Sometimes, finding the right candidate comes down to weeding out who isn't a fit first.
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Josh Wilson is the news director of the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in 2024, he worked for FanSided in a variety of roles, most recently as senior managing editor of the brand’s flagship site. He has also served as a general manager of Sportscasting, the sports arm of a start-up sports media company, where he oversaw the site’s editorial and business strategy. Wilson has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from SUNY Cortland and a master’s in accountancy from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. He loves a good nonfiction book and enjoys learning and practicing Polish. Wilson lives in Chicago but was raised in upstate New York. He spent most of his life in the Northeast and briefly lived in Poland, where he ate an unhealthy amount of pastries for six months.