The New York Knicks will interview New Orleans Pelicans associate coach James Borrego in the search to fill their vacant head coaching position, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports. Borrego is the fourth candidate to secure an interview with the Knicks, following former NBA head coaches Mike Brown and Taylor Jenkins and active Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori. The Knicks held their first batch of interviews last week after they fired Tom Thibodeau.
If Borrego lands the Knicks job, it would begin his second stint as a full-time head coach. He served a four-year tenure from 2018-22 with the Charlotte Hornets and went 138-163, missing the playoffs in each of those four seasons. Borrego also coached 30 games for the Orlando Magic in an interim capacity during the 2014-15 season and went 10-20 at the temporary helm.
The Pelicans brought Borrego on board as an assistant more than a calendar year after his firing from the Hornets. He is in his second stint with the franchise and held an assistant title from 2010-12.
The best years of Borrego’s career came at his first NBA stop. He debuted in the league in 2003 with the San Antonio Spurs — on the heels of a quick stop at his alma mater, San Diego — and won two championships under Gregg Popovich.
New York’s is the only open coaching job, and it is an appealing one considering the amount of talent on the roster. Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns headline a squad that won 51 regular-season games, good for the Knicks’ most since the 2012-13 season. Their trip to the Eastern Conference finals marked their deepest playoff run since they advanced to the same round in the 2000 postseason.
The Knicks squandered their opportunity to reach the NBA Finals, though, when they conceded home-court advantage in a series loss to the Indiana Pacers. Player input reportedly sounded the alarms within the franchise, and concerns about Thibodeau’s ability to guide the roster to a championship led the front office to make a move away from one of the team’s most accomplished coaches of the century.
Multiple franchises stonewalled the Knicks in their search for a Thibodeau replacement, denying them the ability to speak with sitting coaches.
Thibodeau’s firing sent shockwaves throughout the league. Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff was among the NBA’s prominent figures to speak out against the move, which caught many by surprise because of Thibodeau’s sustained success. He snapped the Knicks’ seven-year playoff drought in his first year at the helm, took the squad to the second round in consecutive seasons and was two wins away this year from reaching the NBA Finals.
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