Jalen Brunson has finally spoken. Kind of.
The superstar guard reacted Sunday on Instagram to the Knicks’ firing of head coach Tom Thibodeau on Tuesday.
Brunson posted a photo of him with Thibodeau with a heart emoji, and another emoji of fingers crossing.
Brunson had publicly endorsed Thibodeau, who had three years left on his contract, last week after the Knicks were eliminated in six games by the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
It was the Knicks first trip to the conference finals in 25 years, but despite being the betting favorite ahead of Game 1, they failed to advance.
Asked if Thibodeau is “the right guy” to take the Knicks to the next level — presumably a championship or at least the NBA Finals — Brunson appeared taken aback that the question had even been considered.
“Is that a real question right now? You just asked me if I believe he’s the right guy,” Brunson said following the Knicks’ 125-108 Game 6 loss to the Pacers on May 31.
“Yes. Come on,” he added.
Thibodeau, hired ahead of the 2020-21 season, was fired despite serving as the Knicks’ most successful head coach this century.
He coached 400 regular-season games with the Knicks, the fourth most in the organization’s history, and became the first head coach to lead the team to at least four playoff trips within a five-year period since Jeff Van Gundy.
Thibodeau’s four playoff trips are tied for the fourth most in Knicks history. Also, his 24-23 playoff record gives him the fourth-highest post-season winning percentage for the organization at 51.1 — the best mark of any head coach to not lead New York to the NBA Finals.
Only Red Holzman, Pat Riley and Van Gundy have definitively more decorated Knicks coaching tenures since the franchise’s inception in 1947 with the introduction to the NBA, though some might also fight for the success of Joe Lapchick, who coached the team from 1948-1956.
The Knicks head coaching search is expected to pick up steam in the coming days as Thibodeau’s eventual replacement is set to fill a void with immense pressure at the helm, unlike any we’ve seen from the franchise in at least a quarter century.
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