Knicks dealt ANOTHER blow in head-coach search as Hawks block interview with Atlanta's Quin Snyder
Add Quin Snyder and Billy Donovan to the list of NBA coaches the New York Knicks aren't allowed to speak with.
As ESPN's Shams Charania first reported on Wednesday night, the Knicks asked permission to speak with the Atlanta Hawks head coach about their own head-coaching vacancy, only for the Hawks to firmly deny that request.
A Hawks spokesman has since confirmed the report to Daily Mail.
Later in the evening it was also reported by Chicago insider K.C. Johnson that the Bulls have also turned down a request from New York to speak with their head coach in Donovan.
Since firing Tom Thibodeau after the team's most successful season in a quarter century, the Knicks have already been denied permission to speak with Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka, the Minnesota Timberwolves' Chris Finch and the Dallas Mavericks ' Jason Kidd, according to various reports.
The Knicks got more bad news over the weekend when former Villanova coach Jay Wright pulled his name from the running. Wright had been linked to the Knicks because he previously coached current New York stars Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart with the Villanova Wildcats.
In 2020, Knicks president Leon Rose interviewed Kidd and Udoka, both of whom briefly played for New York, only to name Thibodeau, a former Knicks assistant, as the team's new coach.
Thibodeau was fired after an upset loss to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals and the team is now desperately searching for his replacement.
A former star player at Duke who went on to coach at Missouri, Snyder helped turned the Utah Jazz into a perennial playoff contender from 2014-15 until 2021-22, when he resigned as head coach.
In February of 2022, Snyder was hired in Atlanta to replace the fired Nate McMillan and managed to guide the Hawks to the playoffs.
Since then, Atlanta has missed the postseason in 2024 and 2025.
Thibodeau broke his silence about the firing this week by thanking Knicks fans for their support.
'To the best city in the world with the best fans in the world: Thank you,' Thibodeau wrote in the statement. 'When I was hired in 2020, I said this was my dream job. I am grateful that dream became a reality.
'Thank you to our players and coaching staff who gave everything they had and to everyone who makes this franchise special. I am proud of everything we accomplished together, including four playoff appearances and this year's run to the Eastern Conference finals - our first in 25 years.
'And to the fans, thank you for believing in me and embracing me from day one. Watching you support our team, and seeing the Garden ignite with that incomparable Knicks energy, is something I will never forget. With gratitude and respect, Tom Thibodeau.'
This season the Knicks reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000, but were ultimately upset by the Pacers in six games.
In fact, the Knicks reached the playoffs in four of five seasons under Thibodeau, who led the team to its first back-to-back 50-win seasons for the first time since the 1990s. This came after the Knicks failed to reach the playoffs in seven seasons prior to Thibodeau's arrival.
Thibodeau finishes his career in New York with a .511 winning percentage, which ranks fourth in team history behind Red Holzman, Pat Riley and his former boss, Van Gundy. Remarkably, Thibodeau has the highest career winning percentage (.579) of any coach who hasn't reached an NBA Finals, according to ESPN.
The Connecticut native was an assistant under Riley and Van Gundy in the late 1990s and early 2000s before joining Van Gundy with Houston and working with Doc Rivers in Boston. Ultimately Thibodeau was given the Chicago Bulls head-coaching job in 2010, and has since coached the Minnesota Timberwolves as well.
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