Knicks denied by Timberwolves, Rockets to talk with Chris Finch, Ime Udoka
The Knicks were shot down by two teams in their head coach search.
New York was denied permission to speak with Rockets head coach Ime Udoka for their vacant head coaching job in another twist in the ongoing coaching search.
The Rockets were formally approached by the Knicks for permission, to which they quickly said no, according to SNY's Ian Begley.
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Rockets head coach Ime Udoka reacts during game their Game 7 loss to the Warriors in the first round of the 2025 NBA playoffs.
Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
It had been previously reported that the Rockets had no interest in engaging in a scenario that would set up Udoka to potentially leave for the Knicks job.
Udoka is under contract in Houston for the next two seasons and is coming off a year in which he coached the Rockets to the fourth-best record (52-30) in the NBA, along with the 47-year-old finishing third in the voting for NBA Coach of the Year.
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It was the second organization that had turned the Knicks down when they had approached them to talk with their coach.
Sports talk great Mike Francesa was the first to report that the Timberwolves had denied the Knicks permission to speak with their head coach, Chris Finch, who led them to the Western Conference finals this season.
Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch, right, gestures next to referee James Williams during the second half of Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.
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The Knicks could still look to request permission to speak with other current head coaches, ESPN's Shams Charania reported late Tuesday night.
The Knicks have been without a coach since they fired Tom Thibodeau in a move just days after they had been knocked out of the Eastern Conference finals by the Indiana Pacers.
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How Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers put all NBA Finals pressure on Thunder
The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. This is just a great date for some good, nostalgic basketball names. Happy birthdays to Jrue Holiday (35), Sergio Rodriguez (39), Ray McCallum (34), Earl Watson (46), Antawn Jamison (49), Lee Mayberry (55), Jason Caffey (52), Kerry Kittles (51) and Rory Sparrow (67). I feel like I just opened up a pack of basketball cards. This is why they're (W)Indiana Pacers! If before Game 3, I told you the Thunder would make 46.8 percent of their shots, 45.5 percent of their 3-pointers, get to the free-throw line 30 times, out-rebound the Pacers by six and get a combined 70 points on 24-of-53 shooting (45.2 percent) from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, you'd probably feel pretty good about them going up 2-1 in the series. And yet, the Thunder fell to the Pacers 116-107 on the road because the Pacers were able to give the Thunder a taste of their own medicine. Advertisement All season and postseason long, the Thunder have made their opponents' lives miserable by forcing turnovers and giving the stress of quick points coming the other way off those turnovers. But that's what happened to them in Game 3. The Pacers were the aggressors in the turnover department, forcing 19 of those mistakes by OKC and turning it into 21 points. Indiana turned it over 14 times and kept it to 14 points allowed off those turnovers. And it was the Pacers' star guard who set the tone early and often in leading his team to victory. Tyrese Haliburton took a lot of criticism after Game 2. He wasn't as aggressive as people wanted. The one bit of solace was he got going late in the blowout loss, which could have been a tactic by Rick Carlisle to just get his star guard going a little bit to carry into the next game at home. 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Today's 'NBA Daily' discusses the coaching advantage Rick Carlisle has in the NBA Finals. The story of the greatest players in NBA history. In 100 riveting profiles, top basketball writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NBA in the process. The story of the greatest players in NBA history. What are the Knicks doing right now? I'll be honest. I didn't expect to be talking this much, this often about the Knicks' coaching search. I figured we'd talk about Tom Thibodeau being fired and then have news of Jason Kidd being a target. From there, I figured we'd just kind of wait and see what else happens after a few days or maybe even a week. But the Knicks coaching search has taken a truly bizarre turn that is not only quite unusual, but it also has many of us convinced they never had an actual plan. Advertisement Just to recap: Thibodeau took the Knicks to their first Eastern Conference finals in 25 years. The Knicks fired him a few days after they were eliminated by the Pacers. We quickly started hearing about Mavericks coach Jason Kidd being a guy they wanted to hire. It would require permission from the Mavericks to speak to him, convincing him to take the job, and then negotiating a trade with Dallas to get him to New York. The Mavs denied permission for the Knicks to even speak to Kidd. It doesn't stop there. The Knicks have also been denied permission to speak to Ime Udoka by the Rockets and Chris Finch by the Timberwolves. ESPN also reported they were denied speaking to Quin Snyder by the Hawks. K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network also reported the Knicks were denied by the Bulls to speak to Billy Donovan. Sometimes, in a coaching search, you might get a team asking to speak to one coach under contract. More often than not, you're seeing teams asking for permission to speak to assistant coaches under contract. The Knicks asking permission for possibly five head coaches currently under contract is ridiculous. I guess there's the idea of 'If you don't ask, you don't get' at play here. And if you can deal with rejection, then it's not a horrible thing. It also shows the fan base that this team really didn't have a plan when Thibs was fired. They just wanted him gone. Where does Durant fit best? It feels like Kevin Durant will definitely get away from the Suns this summer. We just don't know where or what it looks like to get rid of him. Durant had a great season when he was on the court. He put up 26 points, six rebounds, 4.2 assists and had 52.7/43.0/83.9 splits. The problem is the soon-to-be 37-year-old played in only 62 games. Since missing a full season with the Achilles' tear in 2019-20, Durant has missed 37, 27, 35, seven and 20 games, respectively. That's a lot of games. He also makes $54.7 million next season, which is both a hard number to deal and an expiring contract. Technically, he could walk if he doesn't like your situation. Or he could potentially influence his next team to agree to a two-year, $122 million extension. It's worth it if he plays healthy enough seasons, but that hasn't happened lately. Advertisement On Wednesday, ESPN reported that Durant and his business partner are sifting through trade scenarios. The five potential partners named were the Heat, Knicks, Rockets, Timberwolves and Spurs. These are five pretty intriguing destinations, so let's see how a potential trade could be structured. (PLEASE NOTE, AGGREGATORS: THESE ARE VAGUE IDEAS OF TRADES AND NOT TRADE REPORTS. DO NOT MAKE TRADE GRAPHICS OR PHOTOSHOPS FOR THESE.). Knicks: The framework of the deal is essentially a Karl-Anthony Towns for Kevin Durant swap. But it's not that simple because the second apron penalties and restrictions make it a very difficult salary-matching endeavor. A third team would need to be involved to work around some salaries. I actually don't think this solves either team's issues. With that being said, Phoenix would pair Devin Booker with his best friend. KD for KAT means the Knicks can't have Mitchell Robinson get hurt. Heat: With Booker and Bradley Beal on the roster, the Suns don't need – nor probably want – Tyler Herro. So, I guess the framework of a deal looks like Andrew Wiggins, Duncan Robinson and Jaime Jaquez Jr. with a 2030 or 2032 first-round pick attached to it. Maybe that's worth two firsts, but I'd be hard-pressed to see that happened for KD at his age and availability. The Suns shouldn't want to do anything without Kel'el Ware involved, but I'm guessing Miami says no to that. Would this be enough to get Miami back toward the top of an East with a crumbling Boston, broken Milwaukee and whatever Cleveland is? Rockets: I'm assuming Jabari Smith Jr. is not available in this exercise. Amen Thompson obviously isn't. But you have to get some contracts into the mix to get the numbers to match. Jalen Green (they don't need him), Reed Sheppard (potential bust) and Jock Landale makes the contracts work, although that's not much of a haul. What about giving Phoenix their 2027 and 2029 picks back too? This is a no-brainer for Houston. Phoenix can probably do better, though. Spurs: The Spurs don't even have to give up the No. 2 pick in a potential trade. They could probably get away with Devin Vassell, Harrison Barnes and Malaki Branham to make the contracts work, and then throw in their 2026 and 2028 first-round picks. Maybe this year's No. 14 too. They have more valuable picks from other teams coming in, so their own picks can be moved easily. I don't hate this trade for both teams, but you have to be concerned a little with both Victor Wembanyama and Durant's health in recent years. Wolves: Minnesota would need Julius Randle and Naz Reid to pick up their player options so they can be moved to Phoenix in a trade. A deal would also have to include Rob Dillingham to make the contracts work. The Wolves don't really have picks they can add here. I'm not quite sure why Phoenix does this, but maybe they just want Anthony Edwards to be happy? Streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
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If you're a Sonics fan, cackle along with me at the Thunder's game 3 Finals loss
I did not shout in excitement when Indiana's Obi Toppin dunked home the rebound of Tyrese Haliburton's missed lay-in late in Wednesday's Game 3 of the NBA Finals. I neither hooted nor did I holler. I live in an apartment building and I have neighbors. But as Toppin dropped from the rim, his dunk having pushed the Pacers' lead to seven points with 4:23 left, I did emit a laugh so high-pitched it could only be described as a cackle: the kind of thing you'd hear from a witch or the furry little rodent that sat on Jabba The Hutt's lap in 'Return of the Jedi.' I was … giddy, a feeling I'm not sure I've ever experienced while watching sports. I've been so happy that I've hugged strangers (2024 Sugar Bowl, UW vs. Texas). I've been so angry I couldn't speak (UW loss to Oregon, 2021). Two years ago, when Washington beat Oregon at Husky Stadium, a guy puked on my shoes and I was so elated by the Huskies victory that I wasn't even mad. But nothing has generated as much sheer unadulterated glee for me as watching the Oklahoma City Thunder lose, which is exactly what happened on Wednesday. The Thunder led by as many as nine points in the first half, and they were up five entering the fourth quarter only to watch the Pacers pull away in the final 7 minutes of the game, winning 116-107. This being the sports section, I probably should probably give you some facts. Bennedict Mathurin, a third-year guard from Arizona, scored 27 off the bench to lead Indiana while Haliburton went for 22 and Pascal Siakam scored 21. Oklahoma City had three players score 20 or more, too: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (24), Jalen Williams (26) and Chet Holmgren (20). The difference was depth. The Pacers' bench scored 49 points, the Thunder's 18. The truth is I don't care all that much about how it happened so long as the Thunder lost. You see, being a hater is a bottom-line business. I've also discovered that it's a thoroughly enjoyable way to watch a sport. You don't have to wait until Seattle is awarded an NBA expansion franchise to have a rooting interest. We can all join hands together and hope that the team that was stolen from us fails to win a championship for the 17th consecutive season. I know, it sounds kind of petty and immature. That's because it is petty and immature, and you can sit with the grown-ups if you want, but I'm having a hell of a time down here on the low road, thinking about just how devastating it would be for the Thunder to lose to the Pacers, who were 5-to-1 underdogs when the series began. He-he-he. I just cackled again. Don't worry, I know better than to make any premature proclamations. We've still got a long way to go. The Thunder trailed the Denver Nuggets 2-1 in the Western Conference semifinals only to come back and win the series in a seventh game. As an experienced hater, trust me when I say you've got to keep an even keel about these things. You can't get too high when the team you loathe loses just like you can't let yourself get too low when they win. You also need some stamina. When you're cheering for a team, momentum builds over the course of a playoff run. People around you are getting excited, too. When you're rooting against one, though, it takes effort and a laser focus not to get discouraged as you watch a team like the Thunder keep clearing hurdles. A cake walk over Memphis in the first round. A seven-game nail-biter against Denver, and then a Minnesota team that absolutely mailed in the fifth and final game of the conference finals. At some point you might even find yourself conceding that it is possible, perhaps even likely, that the one team you absolutely do not want to win the sport's top prize may do just that. And it is in those moments, when doubt starts to creep in, I like to remind myself just what I'm in this for: misery. More specifically: Oklahoma City's misery, and the closer the Thunder get to a championship, the more misery a loss is going to induce. Someone with more going for them and less resentment might decide that investing this much energy in a certain team NOT winning might not be healthy. I have a word for these sorts of people: amateurs. You don't spend this much time hating this one team without going through a few gut checks that really show what you're made of, and my loathing of the Thunder is built to last. In fact, I can think of only one thing that might dilute my venom: If Seattle were to be awarded an expansion franchise, and if this expansion franchise were to be named the Sonics, and if the Sonics were to win their second NBA championship before the Thunder were to win their city's first, then I might dial back my animosity. But probably not. It's too much fun hating the Thunder. I better stop now before I start cackling again. Danny O'Neil was born in Oregon, the son of a logger, but had the good sense to attend college in Washington. He's covered Seattle sports for 20 years, writing for two newspapers, one glossy magazine and hosting a daily radio show for eight years on KIRO 710 AM. You can subscribe to his free newsletter and find his other work at
