Tom Thibodeau may get a chance to coach the Knicks – and some of the club’s G League players – in August.
SNY sources confirm a report from the Charlotte Observer that said the NBA and Players Association are making progress towards plans for the eight teams not in the Orlando bubble to have workouts.
As of earlier this week, the plans for those team workouts – which include the Knicks – were fluid. But one iteration of the plan would include teams having their G League players join the workouts to give them a chance to have more full scrimmages, per SNY sources.
Nothing had been finalized as of Wednesday morning.
The league and the NBA Players Association would need to sign off on the proposal. Workouts would likely be voluntary.
The Observer reported that teams would work out in their facility and then potentially join another team at a joint site for workouts. Newsday subsequently reported that the team workouts in market could last for several weeks.
Whatever the final details of the plan are, it will give Thibodeau a chance to coach the players on his roster in person for the first time.
Some with the Knicks had been lukewarm on a reported proposal from the NBA to have all eight teams gather in Chicago to workout in a ‘second bubble’ setting. Those members of the organization wanted their players to workout, but had concerns about having young players scrimmage due to the potential of injury.
Also, the Knicks have several pending free agents. It’s unlikely that those players would have strong interest in taking on the risk amid the coronavirus pandemic to scrimmage against other non-playoff teams.
If the workouts remained in market, that would give Thibodeau an extended period to look at his own players, including RJ Barrett, Mitchell Robinson, Julius Randle, Kevin Knox and Frank Ntilikina. If G League players are included, Thibodeau could also get a look at those that excelled with the Westchester Knicks this season, like guard Lamar Peters.