Mike Brown Is One Win Away From the Ultimate NBA Redemption Story

After firing Tom Thibodeau following New York’s Eastern Conference Finals loss last year, many people turned their nose up when the Knicks replaced him with Mike Brown.

The Knicks had a lengthy search that was stonewalled when New York was rejected permission to interview Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka and Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch.

The result landed on Brown, who was fired mid-season by the Sacramento Kings in 2024.

Brown’s firing in Sacramento came one day after he blasted De’Aaron Fox for a boneheaded play. Fox’s error in Game 4 cost the San Antonio Spurs an opportunity to even the series at two games a piece – and proved Brown’s point from many seasons ago.

But his win against Fox isn’t the only thing that would be vindicated if the Knicks can win the championship this season. Brown has won four championships as an assistant coach, but doesn’t have a ring of his own as a head coach.

His journey began with a young LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2005. Brown lost the 2007 NBA Finals, where the Cavs were overmatched by a better Spurs team. Now, more than two decades later, Brown is one win away from beating that same franchise to win his first championship as a head coach.

After being fired by the Cavs in 2010 as owner Dan Gilbert tried to lure LeBron James back to Cleveland, Brown spent two seasons as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers as Phil Jackson’s successor. He dealt with a shortened season due to the lockout and then had to deal with the headache of trying to make washed up Steve Nash and Dwight Howard work alongside Kobe Bryant.

Naturally, that gig didn’t last long.

Gilbert admitted firing Brown the first time was a “mistake” and the Cavs hired him again in 2013. But that season was the first time in Brown’s career that he posted a losing record, and reported infighting in the locker room caused Gilbert to fire him again. Brown already conquered revenge on Cleveland by sweeping the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Brown spent two seasons away from the NBA before joining Steve Kerr’s staff with the Golden State Warriors as an assistant coach from 2016-2022. That was one of the most dominant stretches in NBA history and led Brown to getting hired by the Kings, which resulted in Sacramento’s first postseason appearance since 2006.

Brown has won everywhere he’s gone. But over the course of two decades, it’s never come all the way together for the 56-year-old head coach. Now, he needs to coach his way to one more win in New York’s next three attempts to deliver the Knicks their first championship in 53 years.