Former Knicks head coach David Fizdale takes Suns assistant job; Jeff Van Gundy might coach in Dallas???

While Tom Thibodeau’s name continues to be a hot topic among Knicks fans for a myriad of reasons, it was two former Knicks coaches that found themselves being in the news this week. First off, it was David Fizdale, who was recently hired by the Phoenix Suns as an assistant coach. Fizdale coached what was a pretty subpar roster during his time as a Knicks coach and went 21-83 in 104 games between 2018 and 2019. After a quick stint as an assistant coach in Los Angeles, Fizdale left the sidelines and worked in the Jazz front office over the last 12 months. Phoenix decided to approach the former Knicks and Grizzlies head coach because of his previous experience working with Frank Vogel and Fizdale, who reportedly wanted to reunite with Vogel, found it difficult to turn down the opportunity to coach both Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.

In other news, Jeff Van Gundy, whose reputation among Knicks fans couldn’t be more different from Fizdale’s, seems to be on the Dallas Mavericks’ radar. The Mavericks and Knicks have recently had an interesting relationship with the Knicks as the former have taken on many of the latter’s former players. And things got pretty heated last year after New York poached away Jalen Brunson from Dallas. Well, Dallas is now rumored to be interested in gauging the former Knicks coach’s interest in joining Jason Kidd’s coaching staff. Van Gundy has been one of the faces of ESPN’s NBA coverage for over a decade now and hasn’t been on the sidelines since 2007, when he was the head coach of the Houston Rockets. While his overall desire to return to coaching hasn’t been overtly clear, he has been rumored in to be in the running for multiple jobs including the Rockets’ head coaching position in 2020. There’s still no word on how serious the Mavericks are or how interested Van Gundy is, but with Fizdale signing on in Phoenix, we now know that we’ll see at least one former Knicks coach as an assistant coach next season.