Dan Patrick dropped a shocking $30 million Tom Thibodeau-Leon Rose conspiracy theory on Thursday. A few days ago, the Knicks parted ways with their five-year head coach, which shocked a lot of the general public. Thibodeau was coming off leading New York to one of its best seasons in recent franchise history. The Knicks finished the year once again with 50+ wins and made the Conference Finals for the first time since 2000.

The season ended again against the Indiana Pacers, this time in six games, and the front office decided to act shortly after. Patrick, however, recently floated on his show that the move to fire Thibodeau had been on Rose's mind for a while now, and he did his longtime friend a favor the year before in case that happened.

“And you give him a contract extension last July. It’s almost as if—now, okay, this may sound crazy, and I was told this yesterday—what if Leon Rose, who was Thibs’ former agent, who’s now his boss, wanted to take care of Thibs if, in fact, he got fired? That you get him this contract extension. Because why else would you give him a contract extension if there are already people in the building who do not like him and his style?”

The Knicks have to nail their next head coach selection for this bold move to age well

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Despite the conspiracy theory, it does make sense that New York extended Thibodeau since he was going into the last year of his previous deal this season. Having a coach in the last year of his contract can spur dysfunction, and the Knicks front office wanted their head coach to be focused on leading a team that they believed had championship potential. It goes without saying that this firing was a daring move from Leon Rose. The easy thing would have been to keep Thibodeau, build out the bench, and run it back.

However, it's clear that the front office has one clear mission in mind: winning a championship. To do so, yes, the roster needs to be cleaned up. But also, this core, which might stay intact in the offseason, has to have a new gear. In all likelihood, and this NBA Finals will be a good indicator, this group is not even close to realistically beating a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The starting lineup of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns has been a net negative since January, and that trend continued into the postseason. The Knicks and Tom Thibodeau should be praised for overcoming these flaws and chemistry issues to make the run that they made. And Thibodeau deserves a standing ovation whenever he visits Madison Square Garden; it's been an incredibly successful tenure. But to win the title, everything has to be clicking. That's the margin of error this franchise is dealing with, and the next head coach must be the perfect fit with the 2025-26 roster. The pressure is squarely on Leon Rose now, and he knows it.