Ex-NBA Champion Urges Knicks to Hire Michael Malone as Coach

Every NBA Coach of the Year winner from 2018 to 2023, minus Nick Nurse, is officially out of work.

Beginning in 2018 with Dwane Casey, who coached the Toronto Raptors for seven seasons prior to Kawhi Leonard's arrival, all five of Mike Budenholzer, Nurse, Tom Thibodeau, Monty Williams and Mike Brown have been fired from the franchise with which they won the award.

Nurse now captains a Philadelphia 76ers team with much to prove behind Paul George and Joel Embiid, but will return for next season. Thibodeau, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky.

"Our organization is singularly focused on winning a championship," Knicks president Leon Rose said. "This pursuit led us to the difficult decision to inform Tom Thibodeau that we've decided to move in another direction."

BREAKING: The New York Knicks are relieving Tom Thibodeau of his duties as head coach, sources tell ESPN. Thibodeau led the Knicks to their first East Finals in 25 years, made playoffs in 4 of 5 years and led Knicks to consecutive 50+ win seasons for first time since the 1990s. pic.twitter.com/B7w8KhoEcF
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 3, 2025

Thibodeau led the Knicks to four playoff appearances and four series victories — doubling the amount New York logged from 1999 until his arrival. In order to continue building on the success Thibodeau found, however, one ESPN analyst provided a solution.

"It might have to be Michael Malone," Kendrick Perkins explained. "I mean when you talk about championship experience, what other coach is out there?"

"It might have to be Michael Malone. I mean when you talk about championship experience, what other coach is out there?"@KendrickPerkins thinks the former Denver Nuggets head coach could be a good fit for the New York Knicks 👀 pic.twitter.com/9v3zSUOSOu
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) June 3, 2025

Several coaches, including Memphis' Taylor Jenkins; Malone; Brown, who was fired midseason prior to De'Aaron Fox's departure at the NBA's February Trade Deadline; and even Budenholzer are active options, but to Perkins' point, only one has won a championship within the past three seasons.

Then again, Budenholzer comes close. And he's plenty more experience from his days in San Antonio under Gregg Popovich.

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