How Knicks hiring Tom Thibodeau can help the San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs have a star the Knicks new coach might want

After a long and varied head coaching search, the New York Knicks finally have their man. The Knicks thankfully passed over two San Antonio Spurs assistants in favor of hiring former Bulls and Timber Wolves head coach, Tom Thibodeau.

After cycling through head coaches for the past few years, it was interesting to see the Knicks hire a coach who is looked at as more of a ‘win now’ hire than the man to lead their needed rebuilding process. The last team that Thibs was hired to lead in a rebuild was in Minnesota. Even now, years after he was fired, the Wolves are still working on returning to relevance.

This isn’t a hit piece on Thibodeau. He’s a good coach who has proven that he can help lead a team to success in the postseason. But given where the Knicks are it seems like a questionable hire. Whatever the Knicks plans are, they’re theirs to figure out. The San Antonio Spurs can sit back and watch this all unfold. Or they can get in on the action and try to make the best of the developing situation in New York.

Would Tom Thibodeau be interested in acquiring DeMar DeRozan?

The San Antonio Spurs already lucked out when the Knicks decided to not hire Becky Hammon or Will Hardy. Could they get lucky again and entice Thibodeau and his new team in possibly trading for DeMar DeRozan?

DeRozan is at an interesting point in his time with the Spurs. He’s been a strong contributor in his first two years with the team. He’s greatly improved as a passer while also proving that he can still be one of the most lethal scorers in the game when he gets hot. But he’s also got a few young guys nipping at his heels for playing time and has the small matter of a $27.7 million dollar player option to make a decision on.

DeRozan has said that he hasn’t begun thinking about his future with the Spurs and won’t get there until the offseason but that doesn’t mean that the Spurs cant start making contingency plans in case he does decide to opt-in.

As mentioned before, the hiring of Tom Thibodeau indicates that James Dolan and the Knicks are looking to win now. Bringing in DeRozan to help lead the next step in their rebuilding process could be a path to making that happen.

The Knicks are one of the few teams in the league who make sense as a trade partner for the Spurs and DeMar. They’ve got a hole on the wing, lack a superstar to help excite their ravenous fanbase, and have the cap space to offer DeRozan an extension after his current deal runs out in the summer of 2021. They could also offer an interesting package of young players like Kevin Knox or picks to San Antonio to get the Spurs in on the deal.

Maybe Thibs and the Knicks are going to be content with taking their time with their rebuilding process. But if they want to speed things up the San Antonio Spurs have just the man to help make that happen.