Knicks will reportedly ask Mavericks for permission to interview Jason Kidd to replace Tom Thibodeau

New York's search for a new coach will start in Dallas, if the Mavs allow it

The New York Knicks made the somewhat surprising move to fire coach Tom Thibodeau after losing in the Eastern Conference Finals. It's not often that a front office goes ahead and fires a coach who makes the conference finals -- especially for a team that hasn't made it there in more than two decades. 

However, the Knicks felt this was a team with a higher ceiling than an ECF exit and that Thibodeau had not maximized this roster. In firing him, the Knicks made clear that anything short of a title is going to be a failure, setting extremely high expectations on the next coach to take over. Two coaches quickly moved to the top of the Knicks' public wish list. The Rockets' Ime Udoka and Mavericks' Jason Kidd are reportedly highly coveted by the Knicks, but they would need permission to interview. By all accounts, Houston will not allow New York to speak with Udoka, but no confirmation regarding Kidd is available. 

Marc Stein, who has deep ties in Dallas, reported Friday that  the Knicks plan to make a formal request to interview Kidd "in the coming days." 

That would be a considerable step forward in the Knicks' coaching search and given the Mavs are headed in a new direction suddenly, they might be willing to move on from Kidd. The previous Mavs regime hired Kidd specifically with coaching Luka Dončić in mind, but Dončić is now gone, a new leadership group is in charge and with the Mavs landing the No. 1 pick (and thus, Cooper Flagg) in the draft lottery, the three-year title window they proposed when they traded for Anthony Davis has now widened considerably. 

Kidd probably sees the Knicks as being closer to a title than Dallas, especially with Kyrie Irving missing much of next season, and the Mavs might be willing to let him go to the East. If the that ends up being the case, it would be the second time Kidd has been traded as a coach, as the Bucks sent second round picks to Brooklyn in 2014 to bring Kidd in after his first season as a coach. 

If the Mavs say no, the Knicks are expected to keep attention on established former head coaches, rather than exploring the assistant market. We'll have to see if that excludes Johnnie Bryant, the hottest assistant on the coaching market, but all signs point to New York looking at the likes of Taylor Jenkins, Michael Malone, Mike Brown, Frank Vogel and Mike Budenholzer, all of whom have extensive experience and were recently fired, with three of them -- Malone, Vogel and Budenholzer -- winning championships in the past.