Steph Curry congratulates former Warriors coach Mike Brown on NBA Finals win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
After a 25-year NBA coaching career, Mike Brown finally has won a championship as a head coach.
Having been coached by Brown for six seasons from 2016 to 2022, Warriors star Steph Curry congratulated the former Golden State assistant coach for leading the New York Knicks to their first NBA title since 1973.
“Couldn’t happen to a better guy! Congrats Mike B,” Curry posted on his Instagram story.
As a lead Warriors assistant coach under Steve Kerr, Brown won three championships in 2017, 2018 and 2022. Brown also notably stepped in for Kerr, who was sidelined due to a back injury, during Golden State’s 2017 title run and led the team to a perfect 11-0 record.
During his first season as New York’s head coach, Brown led the team to a 53-29 record during the regular season, which gave the team the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference heading into the 2026 NBA playoffs.
After trailing 2-1 in their first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, the Knicks won each of their next 13 games, advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals and sweeping the Philadelphia 76ers, sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals, and winning the first two games of the NBA Finals on the road against the San Antonio Spurs.
Brown’s championship with New York officially is his fifth, with his first title being with the Spurs as an assistant coach in 2003.
During the 2006-07 season as the Cavaliers head coach, Brown led a young LeBron James and Cleveland to the NBA Finals, but only to get swept by a more potent Spurs team led by coach Gregg Popovich and stars Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.
Almost two decades later, Brown got his redemption against the same team to earn his first championship as a head coach. The 56-year-old also previously was the head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers from 2011 to 2012 and for the Sacramento Kings from 2022 to 2024.
With such a strong team assembled in New York, led by star guard Jalen Brunson, along with the culture that has been set within its organization, Brown and the Knicks should be expected to be a title contender once again next season.
