The New York Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau after reaching the Eastern Conference Finals, but the move has seemingly backfired after multiple reported failed attempts to interview active NBA coaches.

Since dismissing Thibodeau from his post, the Knicks, according to reports, have expressed interest in hiring away the likes of Ime Udoka, Billy Donovan, and Jason Kidd from the Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls, and Dallas Mavericks, respectively. Each of these interview requests has reportedly been rebuffed, leaving the Knicks no other option but to expand their coaching search.

Instead of expanding the search to new candidates, though, Bobby Portis, a current Milwaukee Bucks and former Knicks player, said New York should just put its proverbial tail between its legs and ask Thibodeau to come back.

“Sometimes when you break up with your girlfriend, sometimes you might go over there and find something else, but you might want to come back to that girlfriend. So if I’m the Knicks, man, I’ll just call Thibs back and say, ‘I’m sorry, man.’ Get him some flowers, take him out to lunch, and try to rekindle this relationship, man. It was great, we’ve been together for five years. We had a lot of highs and lows together,” Portis said on ‘Run It Back' on FanDuel TV.

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While it would certainly never happen, Thibodeau's firing was an unpopular decision among many media members, who particularly questioned the move's timing; Thibodeau led the Knicks to their first conference finals appearance in more than quarter of a century, and 2025 was the third consecutive year in which New York had won a playoff series.

Still, Knicks management and some players were purportedly dissatisfied with the loss to the Indiana Pacers in the conference finals, as well as Thibodeau's stubbornness in regards to his rotation philosophy.

Now that the team seemingly will not be able to lure an already-working coach to New York, the Knicks are expected to meet with recently fired head coaches Taylor Jenkins and Mike Brown. Jenkins was let go by the Memphis Grizzlies shortly before the postseason, and Brown was fired by the Sacramento Kings midseason despite winning NBA Coach of the Year in 2023, when he led the Kings to their first playoffs in 16 years, ending a league-record-long drought.