The New York Knicks have very high expectations and that isn’t good news for head coach Mike Brown’s future.
One year after making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to the Indiana Pacers and firing former head coach Tom Thibodeau, the No. 3-seed Knicks are struggling to get by the No. 6-seed Atlanta Hawks in the first round.
New York’s series with the Hawks is tied at 2-2, but could be 3-1 if not for the Knicks’ epic collapse in Game 2.
Now we find out that it might take a lot for Brown to keep his job past this season.
The Athletic’s Sam Amick reports that Brown might have to win the NBA Finals to keep his job after his first season in the Big Apple.
“The noise surrounding the Knicks’ Mike Brown won’t die down unless they reach the NBA Finals, and even that might not be good enough for the first-year New York coach to be safe,” Amick reported. “Fair or not, those are the finals-or-bust parameters set by owner James Dolan when he gave that rare interview in which he said as much earlier this season.”
The Knicks had another strong regular season in the first year under Brown, going 53-29 and finishing in the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.
That was actually a two-game improvement over last season, when New York went 51-31 under Thibodeau.
But, as we know, a good regular season was never going to be the biggest measuring stick of the Knicks’ campaign in 2025-26.
After falling short of the NBA Finals last season, the goal for the Knicks, as stated by owner James Dolan, was to at least win the East this season.
Based on Amick’s report, that might not even be good enough for Brown to keep his job.
Brown’s addition was promising, no doubt, but he has been far from perfect his issues have shown up regularly during the season.
Another problem is it takes players and the Knicks left a flawed core untouched.
Now throw in the fact that the Boston Celtics are healthier and the Detroit Pistons are a better team and it’s a much more difficult conference to navigate.
Nevertheless, this is New York and expectations are always going to be high, especially after what the Knicks accomplished last season.
And those very high expectations could end up costing Brown his job after one season.