The NBA is a player's league. There are great head coaches, but without the right players, there's only so much they can do.
Recently fired New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau is regarded as an excellent basketball coach. But at each of his last two stops, the Knicks and the Timberwolves, he hasn't been able to reach the promised land.
There's one thing, or rather person, those two jobs have in common: Karl-Anthony Towns.
KAT played for Thibs in Minnesota and now again in New York.
This isn't about putting blame on Towns for Thibodeau's failures, but it's an interesting overlap.
MORE: Could the Knicks hire Jay Wright?
Part of the reason Minnesota was content to trade Towns to New York before this season was the idea that it didn't seem like you could quite win a championship with KAT as a top piece. The Timberwolves had become Anthony Edwards' team, but even with Ant and Towns, they'd topped out in the Western Conference Finals.
That's not all on KAT, either. It's hard to win a championship. Lots of great players never did.
But now you've got an All-Star who hasn't quite been good enough in the clutch in two different places resulting in the dismissal of the same head coach.
KAT got Thibs fired twice lmfaaaaooooooooo
— 👳🏼♂️ (@ItsNotAdamAtAll) June 3, 2025
Maybe Thibodeau played his starters too much. Maybe he wasn't quick enough to make adjustments. Maybe he didn't figure out the Knicks' two-center arrangement until it was too late.
But twice, it's Towns outlasting Thibodeau.
In Minnesota, Towns never won a title with or after Thibodeau. He'll be hoping to change that in New York, but for now, he'll just be waiting to learn who his new head coach is.
MORE: Why hasn't LeBron retired? Because he 'gets treatment in the club'