It turns out the New York Knicks are hoping they can leverage the fallout from the Luka Doncic trade to replace the recently dismissed head coach Tom Thibodeau.
After initially hinting at the possibility, Marc Stein of The Stein Line has confirmed that the 'Bockers will be seeking permission from the Dallas Mavericks to speak with Jason Kidd about their sideline vacancy.
Assuming the Mavs grant the Knicks’ request, this could end up being a brilliant decision. Kidd has his own issues as a head coach—just ask Mavs fans—but he’s shown over the past seasons specifically a willingness to shake up things on the offensive end. Dallas started playing faster last season, and before he was injured and shipped to the Los Angeles Lakers, Doncic was spending more time off the ball than ever in 2024-25.
Still, New York’s interest in Kidd also raises some red flags, the biggest of which should irk fans: This may have just fired Thibodeau without having a concrete idea of how to replace him.
The Knicks are playing a risky game with their Jason Kidd pursuit
Staging a thorough coaching search is not something to criticize on its face. Teams get destroyed by insiders and fans for doing just the opposite. (Sup, Sacramento Kings?) But this situation is different.
The Knicks aren’t a team that ended their season early, and had extra time to interview a bunch of candidates before other jobs started being handed out. They fired a coach who guided them to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in a quarter-century. You better have your heir apparent all but locked down when you’re making this change following that type of success.
To suggest otherwise is a farce. Every fan who has paid attention to this team understands that Thibs wasn’t perfect. Far from it. He also wasn’t the only problem, or even necessarily the biggest problem. If the Knicks fired him without a clear successor on deck, they’re effectively saying there’s a whole bunch of names out there who can elevate the ceiling of this team. Even the most devout Thibs skeptics know that’s just not true.
The Giannis Antetokounmpo-sized elephant in the room doesn’t help
There is a chance the Knicks have circled Kidd’s name in orange-and-blue hearts because they think it will help them trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo. The two-time MVP is reportedly mulling over his future with the Milwaukee Bucks, and New York continues to be mentioned as a possible destination despite its glaring lack of assets.
Hiring Kidd could go a long way toward convincing Giannis to force his way to The Big Apple. Just like Jalen Brunson, he has expressed immense respect for the coach with whom he spent three-plus years in Milwaukee.
This logic tracks if the Knicks can guarantee Kidd would leave the Mavs for them, and that his hiring would, in turn, guarantee Giannis demands a trade to them, and only them. New York cannot be assured Dallas will even let Kidd go, let alone that his arrival would make it the odds-on favorites to land Antetokounmpo.
By all appearances, the Knicks dismissed a quality head coach without having an in-the-bag replacement. That doesn’t mean they are doomed. It doesn’t even mean firing Thibs was the wrong decision. But it does mean they’re taking a gigantic risk, the consequences of which could prove dire, immediately and indefinitely, if it turns out they’re wrong—not just about Kidd, but their post-Thibs options in general.