How the Blazers potential hiring of Mike D’Antoni can impact the Knicks

Former New York Knicks head coach and current Brooklyn Nets assistant coach Mike D’Antoni is slated as one of the “top candidates” for the Portland Trail Blazers lead gig, per Shams Charania:

Of the five candidates, D’Antoni is by far the most experienced. In fact, he is the only person of the group to have served in the role at the NBA level. While Billups and Barry have several years of experience in the league as players and are NBA Champions, many players have been unable to translate their knowledge successfully to coaching.

Hammon and Staley, a pair of WNBA legends, have also been around the game a long time. Hammon has served as an assistant under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio since 2014. Staley currently coaches at the University of South Carolina, is a recipient of the Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year, and a Basketball Hall of Famer. Both women would continue to make history if chosen, but they are in the same boat as Billups and Barry. The NBA is the most elite level of the game, so the jump even for a duo as successful as this one can prove difficult.

Knicks: D’Antoni becoming head coach of the Blazers could have ripple effects

Based on this alone, D’Antoni seems like the obvious choice. Not to mention D’Antoni’s teams have been historically successful and featured premiere players. A D’Antoni offense with Damian Lillard as the centerpiece can be the best we have seen in Portland so far.

So how might the potential hiring of D’Antoni as the Trail Blazers next head coach affect the Knicks? Well, it could actually have more bearing than you may realize on the future of New York.