Mike Brown’s first big test in New York isn’t drawing up plays or managing rotations. It’s keeping the machine intact.
The Knicks’ championship run came with a price that was always going to show up eventually: the better the staff performed, the more other teams would come calling. That’s where Brown finds himself now, after Jordan Brink left to join Tiago Splitter’s Chicago Bulls. For a coach hired partly because he was seen as more open to collaboration, it’s the flip side of the same strength.
Brown wasted no time showing that trait once he took over. He gave second-year guard Tyler Kolek a look on opening night, trusted rookie Mo Diawara quickly, and regularly made a point of naming assistants in front of the media when their work deserved credit. He even went a step further and openly pushed for his assistants to land promotions elsewhere in the league.
That wish came true with Brink, New York’s director of video services and player development, who is now off to Chicago. But for Brown, the reward is also the problem: when your staff gets noticed, you have to replace the people who helped make the whole thing work.
Brink’s rise started back in 2015, when Stan Van Gundy brought him into the NBA as an assistant with the Detroit Pistons. His path eventually led him all the way to the top in 2026, and Van Gundy was still singing his praises during an NBA on Prime broadcast of Knicks/Pistons on February 6.
“That's not the only thing he does. This guy can really coach, and is a future star.”
Brink remained coach’s challenge coordinator after working that role under Tom Thibodeau, and he kept excelling under Brown. The Knicks were strong in coach’s challenges again, and Brink played a central role in one of the biggest moments of the championship run in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Officials initially ruled that OG Anunoby had turned the ball over, but after Brink’s intervention, Anunoby was at the line for three free throws.
Brink isn’t the only departure Brown has to handle. Carson Shanks, another assistant coach, also left after his contract expired at the end of Game 5 against the Spurs.
That’s the reality of life under the second apron: teams don’t just lose players to bigger roles or bigger paydays, they can lose coaches too. The Knicks are now dealing with that exact problem, and the staff that helped win a title is already being picked apart.
Still, Brown looks like the right coach to manage it. He helped build a championship staff in his first season in New York, with Leon Rose and the organization helping along the way. Now the challenge is doing it again.
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Charlottes side of the equation is what makes the conversation interesting. The Hornets have a need at backup point guard, and while there have been no confirmed trade talks, the roster fit suggests a deal could make sense if the return matches what they need. For the Knicks, this is the kind of move that could solve a need without touching the top of the roster, but the question is whether they can find the right piece to get Charlotte to listen. [Read more 🡒]