“My job is not to scream and yell, my job is to cheer you and be positive. If you miss four shots, I’m still going to pass to you.” That’s Jason Kidd’s coaching philosophy in his own words. He’s the calm, steady hand, the Hall of Fame point guard turned leader of men. So why is his name at the center of one of the most chaotic and high-stakes coaching searches in recent memory? The New York Knicks are looking for a new head coach after firing Tom Thibodeau—a man who just led them to the Eastern Conference Finals—and all signs point to a dramatic, cross-country pursuit of Kidd.

The Knicks are no longer a rebuilding project; they’re a legitimate title contender, especially with the Eastern Conference suddenly wide open due to injuries to their rivals’ star players like Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton. They need a coach who can take a talented roster and turn them into a championship-winning machine. And while Jason Kidd is still under contract with the Dallas Mavericks, a series of moves behind the scenes has made his potential jump to New York feel more and more like a real possibility.

The first crack in the foundation appeared when Kidd’s top assistant, Sean Sweeney, left the Mavericks to become the associate head coach for the San Antonio Spurs. As ESPN’s Tim MacMahon noted, this was a “big loss,” as Sweeney has been Kidd’s “right-hand man at each stop of his head coaching career. Enough to keep him.” Then, the cracks turned into a full-blown fissure. Assistant coach Jared Dudley is reportedly on his way to Cleveland, and beloved developmental coach God Shammgod is also believed to be departing.

This instability in Dallas has only fueled the rumors coming out of New York. The Knicks have already been denied permission to interview Kidd once, but according to NBA insider Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson, Kidd’s interest in the job is very real. Robinson reported that Jason Kidd has “strong feelings” about the possibility of coaching the Knicks, a team he played for at the end of his career.

But just as the Kidd-to-New-York narrative was reaching a fever pitch, the Knicks’ coaching search took a fascinating and unexpected turn. According to SNY’s Ian Begley, the team has completed an interview with Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori, a highly respected, under-the-radar candidate who might just be the perfect fit for this Knicks roster. Nori is now one of three known candidates, alongside former head coaches Mike Brown and Taylor Jenkins.

While he may not be as big of a name as Jason Kidd, Nori brings a unique pedigree. He has spent 16 years as an assistant, working under four different Coach of the Year winners. More importantly, he has a powerful reference on his resume: Nikola Jokic. Nori was an assistant in Denver during Jokic’s formative years, and the three-time MVP credits him as being one of his biggest early supporters. “He really believed in me since day one,” Jokic told HoopsHype a few years ago. That bond with a European star matters now more than ever because Nori has also coached Karl-Anthony Towns in Minnesota — the Knicks’ newly acquired, franchise-altering big man.

However, the pressure on Leon Rose to get this coaching hire right is immense, because the Knicks are currently a team without a safety net.

The Knicks’ coaching search will define their asset-poor offseason

The Knicks don’t own a first-round pick in this week’s draft, a consequence of the massive trade that brought Mikal Bridges to New York last summer. That deal cost them a treasure trove of assets, including unprotected first-round picks in 2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031.

This is the reality of the Knicks’ situation: they are all-in, right now. There are no high draft picks coming to inject cheap, young talent into the roster. The path to improvement isn’t through the draft, it’s through maximizing the talent they already have. That makes the head coach not just a leader, but the single most important offseason acquisition.

All this brings up a larger philosophical question for the Knicks’ front office: do they need another superstar, or do they just need better depth? It’s the kind of superstar-hungry market where names like Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo are always being whispered. In fact, according to multiple reports, the Knicks did have interest in trading for Durant before he was ultimately dealt to Houston, but they weren’t willing to meet the high asking price.

Former Knick J.R. Smith made his opinion on the matter perfectly clear in a recent interview with WFAN. “You need depth,” he stated bluntly. “That’s not a knock to KD or Giannis, they are amazing talented players, but you also need the right ingredients. You can’t just throw chicken in a pot with other stuff and like ‘this is going to taste good’, it just doesn’t work like that.”

Smith argued that the Knicks already have a great core and that what they really need are a few key role players to round out the roster. He even pointed to Cameron Payne as the perfect example of the kind of player they need more of: “We had Cameron Payne who come off the bench he can orchestrate and score. Get another two or three pieces like that I think we are fine.”

That “depth over stars” approach might be the most realistic path for the Knicks, who are limited to their taxpayer mid-level exception (around $5.7 million) in free agency. That means they could be looking at veterans like Spencer Dinwiddie, who could fill that backup point guard role, or Trey Lyles, who would be a great fit if they hired his former coach, Mike Brown.

The Eastern Conference is suddenly wide open. The Celtics, Bucks, and Pacers are all dealing with catastrophic injuries to their best players. The opportunity for the Knicks to seize control of the conference is right there for the taking. But with their draft cupboard bare, they only have one move left to make this offseason: hiring the right coach.