The New York Knicks are going to the 2026 NBA Finals after winning Game 4 130-93 against the Cleveland Cavaliers and sweeping them in the process. Head coach Mike Brown went from being fired by the Sacramento Kings a season-and-a-half ago to leading a team to the Finals, a remarkable turnaround for the veteran coach who’s no stranger to Finals appearances.
Coach Brown was an assistant on the San Antonio Spurs when they won the 2003 NBA Championship and an assistant on the championship-winning 2022 Golden State Warriors as well. He led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the 2007 NBA Finals as head coach, but lost to his former team Spurs, in a sweep.
Brown has coached multiple legends over his career, with a reporter asking him to compare Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson as a leader to some of the star names he’s coached in the past after their Game 4 win. Brown put Brunson in the topmost echelon alongside Tim Duncan and Stephen Curry.
“Tim Duncan and Steph Curry. Those. They’re not the same player, but the aura those guys have. The quiet strength that they have it’s unbelivable. Those were the kind of guys. They just got it. They got it on the floor and off the floor, they’re the whole package.”
Brown worked with Duncan on the Spurs from 2000 to 2003, and coached against him in the 2007 NBA Finals. He spent time with Curry as associate head coach for the peak of their dynasty from 2016 to 2022. This is his first year with Brunson, so it’s really high praise for Brown to compare him to Finals MVPs like Duncan and Curry.
Two names that Brown notably left out in his list of greatest leaders he’s coached are LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.
Mike Brown was James’ head coach from 2005 to 2010 with the Cavaliers, with the pair going to the 2007 Finals together. Their relationship ended sourly as he was fired in 2010 in an attempt by the Cavaliers to convince LeBron to return. Brown would lose his job while LeBron would head to the Miami Heat.
Given how young James was when Mike Brown was his head coach, it’s fair for Brown not to categorize him as a top-notch leader at that point in his career. LeBron has admitted how his stint in Miami led to the maturation of his game both on and off the court, as he joined the Heat at the age of 25.
That stint and his time back with the Cavaliers from 2014 to 2018 truly built LeBron into one of the greatest on-court leaders in NBA history, with the 3-1 NBA Finals comeback against the Warriors in 2016 the best example.
Mike Brown coached Kobe for one season on the 2010-11 Los Angeles Lakers, with that season ending with a second-round sweep loss to the eventual champions Dallas Mavericks. He returned in his role for the 2011-12 season but would be fired within five games after starting the season 1-4.
Given Mike Brown didn’t enjoy any success on the Lakers in a period of turmoil where Kobe didn’t gel with co-star Dwight Howard, Brown likely wouldn’t rate Kobe’s leadership at the same level as the championships he won as a coach.
Brunson has to deliver on his promise and bring a championship to New York to enter conversations alongside the likes of Duncan Curry, LeBron, and Kobe. Brown’s estimation of him as a leader is high, but now it’s time to deliver.
