One, two, three strikes you are out. What is going on with one of the NBA’s flagship franchises is the question that is on everyone’s mind. The New York Knicks, who made the Eastern Conference Finals this past season, reportedly will not have the opportunity to interview Jason Kidd for their vacant head coaching position.
NBA insider Marc Stein reported Wednesday morning that the Knicks formally requested permission from the Dallas Mavericks to interview Kidd, and they were turned down right away.
ESPN’s senior NBA insider, Shams Charania, confirmed the report and added that the Knicks have also been denied permission to interview Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka and Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch.
Last Tuesday, the Knicks shockingly fired head coach Tom Thibodeau after a successful five seasons at the helm. Thibodeau led the Knicks to the playoffs four times, including a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals this season, which marked their first ECF appearance since 2000.
Shortly after Thibodeau’s firing, Stein reported on the Knicks’ interest in Kidd and Udoka, but he cautioned that the Mavericks and Rockets were not expected to grant permission to the Knicks to interview their head coaches.
Stein also reported that Kidd is “believed to be happy” in Dallas and excited to coach Duke star Cooper Flagg, who the Mavericks are expected to select first overall in the 2025 NBA draft later this month.
Kidd is a Hall of Fame point guard who played for both the Mavericks and Knicks during his 19-year career, and he now has extensive head coaching experience as well.
Over his nine seasons as an NBA head coach with the Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks and Mavericks, Kidd has compiled a 362-339 record with five playoff berths to his name.
He is 179-149 in four seasons with the Mavericks, leading them to the Western Conference Finals in 2022 and the NBA Finals in 2024, where they lost to the Boston Celtics in five games.
Embed from Getty ImagesThings did not go as expected for Kidd and the Mavericks this season, as they went 39-43 and missed the playoffs after losing to the Memphis Grizzlies in the play-ins.
Self-inflicted wounds played a role in the Mavericks’ disappointing campaign, though, as they traded 25-year-old superstar guard Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package featuring Anthony Davis in February.
Davis got injured in his first game playing with the team against the Rockets and missed a large chunk of time, while superstar guard Kyrie Irving suffered a torn ACL in March.
With a healthy nucleus of Davis, Irving and Flagg, who does not turn 19 until December, the Mavericks have a chance to be contenders in the Western Conference next season, so Kidd’s reported desire to remain in Dallas makes all the sense in the world.
At the same time, the Knicks have consistently been a top team in the Eastern Conference in recent years, and they have continued to make progress toward their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999.
Although the Knicks have not had any success in luring a head coach away from their current situation, their core of Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart figure to be of great interest to any head coaching candidate who is actually available.
