The Knicks Are Closing in on a Five-Year Deal with Tom Thibodeau

The new-look New York Knicks are set to have a new boss on the bench in 2020.

And it’s a familiar face:

The New York Knicks and Tom Thibodeau are finalizing a five-year deal to make him the franchise’s next coach, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 25, 2020

ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reports the Knicks and Tom Thibodeau are closing in on a five-year contract to be the team’s next head coach.

Thibodeau, 62, has worked in media circles since being fired by the Timberwolves and removed from his jobs as Head Coach and President of Basketball Operations in January 2019. Previously, he was a highly successful head coach for the Bulls from 2010-15. His teams made the playoffs in each of the five years he coached and has the franchise’s only 50-win seasons since Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson skipped town. And as you know by now, the Bulls haven’t been the same since Thibodeau’s firing after the 2015 season.

Meanwhile, the Knicks were 21-45 last year and missed the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. Moving forward, the franchise entrusts Thibodeau — who was an assistant for the Knicks under Jeff Van Gundy from 1996-2004 — to turn around a franchise that has been a bottom-feeder for quite some time.

We had hoped the Bulls would follow with a coaching search of their own sometime soon, but we might have to wait until at least September.