Mike Brown Faces Test of Trust With Knicks After Tom Thibodeau’s Exit, Says NBA Insider

Despite the New York Knicks getting their best playoffs run in almost 30 years, the team sent coach Tom Thibodeau packing over the summer ahead of the 2025-26 season. It left fans and players divided, with some claiming that Thibodeau’s style of play had become stagnant, while other arguing that the outgoing coach should have been given a longer rope.

The Knicks didn’t waste much time either after sacking Thibodeau and hired 2-time NBA Coach of the Year, Mike Brown instead to get the job done. The general idea behind the decision was simple, the front office believed Thibodeau had hit his ceiling, and they needed someone with a proven pedigree to step up and take the team to the next level.

Brown practically said as much during his introductory press conference. Complimenting the former head coach for having done a great job, he had said, “But I’m looking forward … I just can’t wait to get on the court and start implementing things that we want to do offensively and help us grow and take it to another level.”  But the job is easier said than done.

NBA reporter Ian Begley, who has covered the Knicks for well over a decade now, believes that Brown must earn the trust of the locker room. “That trust factor was there with Tim Thibodeau. That trust factor can’t be there right now because Mike Brown is just starting out here as a coach,” he said.

He believes that it is incumbent on Brown to build that rapport with his players. “Not just with Jalen Brunson but also with the rest of the veterans of the locker room,” he added.

Begley noted that while some of the players, like Josh Hart, were close to Thibodeau, but obviously not close enough to ask the management to keep him on as the head coach. Whether or not they could have used their own contracts as leverage is another discussion entirely.

Thibodeau was widely believed to have been outcoached during the loss to the Indiana Pacers last season. His substitutions were also criticized, with even his own players making comments on the excess amount of time they had spent on the court and in practice last season.

Now, Brown does come with a lot of experience in the matter, especially in big game situations. He’s 454-304 across 11 seasons of the NBA, featuring prominently as the head coach of teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings. Hopefully, he can work out the kinks in the Knicks system and iron them out before the season begins next month.