The New York Knicks are looking to steal the coach who beat them in the Eastern Conference Finals last season.
According to SNY’s Ian Begley, the Knicks have been in contact with Indiana assistant Mike Weinar to discuss a spot on Mike Brown’s coaching staff, citing league sources.
“Weinar has worked on Rick Carlisle’s staff in Dallas and Indiana and is currently a candidate for an opening,” Begley wrote on X.
Stefan Bondy of the New York Post added: “I’ve heard he’s a strong candidate for the position.”
Weinar started working with Carlisle in 2008 as a Special Assistant to the Head Coach. His head coaching experience includes leading the Dallas Mavericks to the 2017 Orlando Summer Pro League Championship and to the playoffs of the 2019 NBA Summer League.
If the Knicks want to mirror the Pacers’ pace and space style of play that lifted them to the NBA Finals, Weinar is the man for the job.
Mike Weinar Up Against NBA Summer League Champion Coach
But Weinar is competing against the recent NBA Summer League champion coach Chris Jent.
Jent is the leading candidate, according to SiriusXM’s NBA Radio host Frank Isola.
“Hornets assistant coach Chris Jent has emerged as the leading candidate to join Mike Brown’s Knicks staff as offensive coordinator. Jent, who played one season for the Knicks, recently coached the Hornets to the Summer League title,” Isola wrote on X.
Jent had a brief stint with the Knicks during the 1996-97 season. He appeared in only three games, averaging 2.0 points.
Getty Head coach Chris Jent of the Charlotte Hornets looks on in the first half of a 2025 NBA Summer League game against the Dallas Mavericks.
Jent was also on Brown’s coaching staff in Cleveland from 2006 to 2009. He recently guided the Charlotte Hornets to the NBA Summer League title in Las Vegas — the first championship of any kind for the franchise.
The 55-year-old Jent has been working as an assistant coach in the NBA since 2003. He once coached the Orlando Magic in an interim capacity during the 2004-05 season and logged a 5-13 win-loss record. His other head coaching experience was in the NBA D League (now G League) with the Bakersfield Jam (now the Motor City Cruise) during the 2015-16 season.
Jent is the most experienced assistant coach on the Hornets staff.
Knicks Closing in On Defensive Coordinator
Getty Former New York Knicks head coach Larry Brown with Brendan O’Connor sitting on the back.
While the Knicks’ offensive coordinator role is a toss-up between Weinar and Jent, Los Angeles Clippers assistant coach Brendan O’Connor is a cinch to become the defensive coordinator, according to Isola.
Previously, Isola also reported that the Knicks were closing in on hiring Los Angeles Clippers assistant coach Brendan O’Connor.
“O’Connor worked as a Knicks assistant under Larry Brown and has close ties to Knicks executive William Wesley,” Isola reported on X.
Wesley, known as “World Wide Wes,” was a power broker behind the scenes during Brown’s coaching stints in Detroit and Philadelphia.
Stefan Bondy of the New York Post confirmed Isola’s report and added that O’Connor will serve as the defensive coordinator and not an associate head coach.
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