On Thursday morning, the New York Knicks took to the streets of Manhattan to celebrate their recent NBA championship win with a parade. The Knicks have been on a celebration tour all week after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in five games in the NBA Finals.
In attendance for the festivities was New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, who addressed the crowd during the parade and made sure to acknowledge the role that former members of the Knicks’ organization played in setting the stage for this year’s run.
Mamdani referred to former Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau as “the coach who helped lay the groundwork,” while also shouting out numerous former players, including JR Smith, Immanuel Quickley, JR Barrett, and others, per SNY Knicks on X, formerly Twitter.
"This championship belongs to them too, because championships aren't just built in one season."
New York City’s mayor Zohran Mamdani to former Knicks players and former HC Tom Thibodeau
(via @sny_knicks) pic.twitter.com/hQ762RbaU0
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 18, 2026
Thibodeau indeed played a big role in helping turn the Knicks from a laughingstock into a playoff team over the last few years, getting them back into the playoffs during the 2021 season and then building from there after the arrival of Jalen Brunson the following year.
While Thibodeau at times drew the ire of fans for some of his habits, including running his stars into the ground in the regular season and refusing to tweak his rotations in the playoffs, he still helped establish a culture of tough, team-first basketball that other squads around the NBA were forced to take seriously, and it’s safe to say the Knicks would not be in this position now had he not been hired.
Meanwhile, head coach Mike Brown ended up being the man to take New York across the finish line, and the Knicks will hope to become the first repeat NBA champion since 2018 next year when they bring back essentially the same core of players.
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