Charles Barkley roasted the Knicks' coaching search with brutal insult to team brass
The New York Knicks find themselves in a bit of a pickle after firing coach Tom Thibodeau last week.
Thibodeau had New York playing some of its best basketball in years and led the team to the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals. However, the franchise still decided it was better off without Thibodeau at the helm.
Advertisement
However, the succession plan isn't going well. The Knicks have been rebuffed in interview requests for four NBA head coaches so far in Minnesota's Chris Finch, Houston's Ime Udoka, Dallas' Jason Kidd and Atlanta's Quin Snyder.
7 Knicks coach options after Tom Thibodeau's firing (Michael Malone!)
All these failed requests hint to a lack of a concrete plan to replace Thibodeau in the head coaching role, something that NBA great and broadcast analyst Charles Barkley spotted from a mile away.
Barkley torched the Knicks ahead of Game 3 for this year's NBA Finals in Indianapolis on Wednesday night as, his words, "the stupidest damn people in the world."
Advertisement
"The Knicks gotta be the stupidest damn people in the world," Barkley said during the pregame coverage. "You don't fire no good coach like that and don't have a plan."
The Knicks still have plenty of time to find the right head coach to replace Thibodeau, but the decision to fire him was already highly questionable to begin with.
It's hard not to feel like Barkley is onto something here, as firing the guy who is responsible for some of the team's best success in the last 25 years always felt weird. If the team can't find a suitable replacement, Barkley's insult will feel all the more prescient.
If the team's real plan was to poach another team's coach, that shows a level of organizational incompetence that Barkley is right to roast them for having. However, we'll give the Knicks the benefit of the doubt until we see who their next head coach is.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Charles Barkley obliterated the Knicks' coaching search with brutal insult
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Lexie Hull Sends Message About Hidden Caitlin Clark Video
Lexie Hull Sends Message About Hidden Caitlin Clark Video originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Tyrese Haliburton's soaring jumper as the buzzer sounded lifted the Indiana Pacers back in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks. Advertisement With 7.3 seconds left and the Pacers trailing by two, Haliburton dribbled down the court, faded toward the arc and released a high-arching shot that bounced on the rim before dropping through the net, forcing overtime in the 138-135 thriller. Indiana would go on to complete the comeback, but it was Haliburton's buzzer‑beater that cemented his status as one of the league's most clutch playmakers. While Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark was watching from afar, she admitted to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne that she'd videotaped her own reaction to the play. "I videotaped myself, like, the final play and I have my reaction in real time. It's a pretty iconic video. Maybe one day everybody will see it, but no, not right now,' Clark revealed, citing too many "curse words" in her unfiltered reaction. Advertisement However, Lexie Hull, Clark's Fever teammate, wasn't going to let it slide, responding to Clark's comments with, "I have the reaction video. Taking bids now." Entering the WNBA as the first overall pick in 2024, Clark set rookie scoring (769), assist (337) and 3‑point (122) season records, guided the Fever to their first playoff berth since 2016 and earned Rookie of the Year honors. Hull, on the other hand, taken sixth overall by Indiana in the 2022 draft, has carved out a vital role of her own, becoming one of the team's spark plugs off the bench. Indiana Fever guards Caitlin Clark (22) and Lexie Hull (10).Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images This season, she's averaged a career-high 9.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.3 steals in 29.8 minutes through Indiana's first nine games. Advertisement As the Pacers fight to win the franchise's first-ever NBA championship, Clark, Hull and the Fever hope to chase another postseason berth and potentially some hardware of their own. Related: Stephanie White Breaks Silence After Missing Chicago Sky Game Related: WNBA Reacts to Caitlin Clark's Actions During Chicago Sky Game This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 13, 2025, where it first appeared.
Hamilton Spectator
14 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Thunder break NBA record for total points in a season, including playoffs
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A record for Oklahoma City: No team in NBA history has scored more points in a season than the Thunder. It's a nuanced record, taking into account both regular season and playoff games. And technically, the Thunder would have broken the record on Wednesday if their appearance in the NBA Cup championship game — which is considered an exhibition — counted in any league totals. But now, no matter how one counts, it belongs to the Thunder. They came into Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers needing 68 points for the record and got it on a free throw by NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 6:09 left in the third quarter on Friday night. That gave the Thunder 12,162 for the season, breaking the mark of 12,161 scored by the Golden State Warriors in 104 games during the 2018-19 season. Friday's game was the 102nd official contest for the Thunder this season. (They scored 81 points in the NBA Cup championship game loss to Milwaukee in December, a point total and outcome that doesn't factor into any season stats.) The total-points record is the latest entry on a history-making season for the Thunder, who set a franchise record with 68 regular-season wins and — if they win the NBA title — would become the fourth team in league history to post at least 84 victories in a full season. Only Golden State (88 wins in 2015-16), Chicago (87 in 1995-96) and the Bulls again (84 in 1996-97) have reached 84 wins in a season. 'I think there's just a lot of integrity to the team,' Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said when asked how the team doesn't seem fazed by its numbers. 'I think that starts with the makeup that these guys have. Great psychological makeup, competitive makeup, personal makeup. Then over time we've had to really kind of forge into this version of ourselves, in visible spaces.' The total-points mark is obviously fueled by longevity of the season. The Thunder were only fourth in points per game during the regular season behind Cleveland, Memphis and Denver, and when adding in playoffs Oklahoma City's scoring average this season was only 27th in NBA history. That said, no matter how the finals end, it has been a season that will be in the Thunder record books for a long time. In addition to the scoring, the Thunder are currently second all-time in average point differential per game (12.2 entering Friday) behind only the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks. It helps illustrate how big a turnaround the Thunder have enjoyed after going 22-50 in the 2020-21 season, then 24-58 a year later and 40-42 the year after that. 'We haven't relied on anything outside the outcomes,' Daigneault said. 'The noise, we haven't relied on that when we weren't winning. We haven't relied on that while we were building. We haven't relied on that while we were rising. We're not relying on that now that we're in a different position.' ___ AP NBA:
Washington Post
15 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Thunder break NBA record for total points in a season, including playoffs
INDIANAPOLIS — A record for Oklahoma City: No team in NBA history has scored more points in a season than the Thunder. It's a nuanced record, taking into account both regular season and playoff games. And technically, the Thunder would have broken the record on Wednesday if their appearance in the NBA Cup championship game — which is considered an exhibition — counted in any league totals.
