Tom Thibodeau was, by far, the best New York Knicks coach of the 21st century. He led the team to the playoffs in four of his five years on the job. The Knicks made the playoffs just four times in the 19 seasons before he was hired.

Thibodeau inherited a club coming off seven straight losing seasons when he was hired in 2020, and turned them into one of the scariest teams in the East year-after-year. The Knicks fired him anyway.

The Knicks made that decision after they lost to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals, their longest playoff run in 25 years. The next Knicks coach, whoever it is, will be expected to help take the team further, especially after the front office went all-in last offseason with trades for Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns.

Jenkins, who was the head coach in Memphis from 2019-25, compiled a 250-214 (.539) record during that time and led the club to three playoff appearances — ’24/25 would have been a fourth, but he was fired with nine games left in the regular season.

But as we also reported, the Knicks aren’t in a rush. They are comfortable with a vacancy until Summer League if necessary, and the recent strikeouts involving coaches under contract were part of the process of starting with the top of the list, according to multiple sources.

The New York Knicks decided to fire head coach Tom Thibodeau after five seasons and will now look for a replacement.

The Knicks continue to seek out a new head coach despite being unable to interview several candidates at the top of their list.