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Isiah Thomas is back in the Knicks orbit. The Hall of Famer will be appointed to the Knicks board of directors when Madison Square Garden Sports Corporation splits the Knicks and Rangers into two publicly traded companies next month. The transaction, contingent on approvals by the NBA and NHL, is set to be completed Oct. 26, creating MSG Knickerbockers Corporation (which will own the Knicks and Westchester Knicks) and MSG Rangers Corporation (which will own the Rangers, the MSG training facility and the Hartford Wolf Pack).
Mike Vorkunov: Former Knicks team president and head coach Isiah Thomas will be on the MSG Knickerbockers Corp. board of directors. Thomas is also on The Sphere board, and also on the board of Mat Ishbia's UWM. Former Knicks president Steve Mills will sit on the MSG Rangers Corp board. He had been on the MSG Sports board.
ClutchPoints: Lance Stephenson names his top 5 point guards of all time: Isiah Thomas, Jason Kidd, Magic Johnson, Steph Curry, Luka Doncic. Do you agree with his top 5?
!["In the old days, you knew [Larry Bird's] Celtics were …](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/content-pipeline-sports-images/sports2/nba/logos/7.png?format=png8&auto=webp&quality=85,75&width=140)
It's a dangerous path to specifically go after the Knicks, but it doesn't feel as if they're going anywhere. That is, of course, a similar thought to the way the league felt about the 2025 Thunder, the 2024 Celtics and the 2023 Denver Nuggets. "In the old days, you knew [Larry Bird's] Celtics were at the top and you had to chase them. Then it was Isiah [Thomas] and Detroit. Then Michael [Jordan] and the Bulls," the executive said. "It's not like that anymore. You have to build a sustainable winner that's deep and can play multiple styles of basketball."
Madeline Kenney: Becky Hammon on Jalen Brunson leading the Knicks to a championship: “Jalen, all he did was prove history wrong, he proves he's an outlier, so you can put his name next to Steph Curry and Isiah Thomas, and I thought he played brilliantly, especially down the stretch. I mean, he was that 1A dude, but like, apologize, I'm never gonna apologize for having an opinion, that's what ESPN pays me for.”
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NBA Courtside: Isiah Thomas on Jalen Brunson: “This is what we know as small people. Once we get our game right, we’re looking at everybody in the NBA saying ‘you can’t guard me.’ What Jalen Brunson just proved again, when your game is tight and right, no matter what size you are, you become the best at what you do. There wasn’t a player in the NBA this year, that you can say ‘oh, he can guard Jalen Brunson.’ (Via youtu.be/bT3xMELdPPU?is =4Oj8JN583mnsYBqx …)
Speaking on FanDuel's Run It Back, Thomas explained why he believes Brunson's championship run stands apart from those of Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry. "Curry did it at 6'3″ more or less shooting, scoring. Brunson and I, we did it, scoring and assisting. That is something totally different," he said. "And that's why it's so unique. Because he can assist. And then he scores. Curry was more just a scorer."
Isiah Thomas: "I'm calling it out, guys are jealous, they get envious. You bring them on the show, then they want to talk about what they did or what somebody else did, and then they intentionally ignore the obvious. And when you intentionally ignore the obvious, then that has to come back to some jealousy or envy or just some straight-up BS. Now this man got every basketball record on the books and he ain't in your top five, you full of shit."
ESPN Insights: Jalen Brunson is the fourth player listed at 6'2" or shorter to win NBA Finals MVP, joining: 🏀 Stephen Curry (2022) 🏀 Tony Parker (2007) 🏀 Isiah Thomas (1990) Heart over height ❤️
Jorge Sierra: Not official yet, but Jalen Brunson is the second-shortest Finals MVP in NBA history (behind Isiah Thomas).
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Run It Back: Isiah Thomas on Game 4 of the NBA Finals: "As a basketball purist, I was happy to see the Knicks comeback and win. I was terribly upset by the way Spurs played with a 29-point lead."
Run It Back: Isiah Thomas on former NBA players not including LeBron James on their top-5 lists: 'It's jealousy, envy... I don't mess around. I'm calling it out: Guys are jealous, feeling envious... They intentionally ignore the obvious. And when you intentionally ignore the obvious, then it has to come back to some jealousy, or some envy, or just some straight BS. Now this man has every basketball record on the books, and if he ain't in your Top 5, then you're full of sh*t.'
Jorge Sierra: Shortest players to win a postseason MVP 6-foot-1: Isiah Thomas 6-foot-2: Tony Parker, Stephen Curry, JALEN BRUNSON Thomas, Parker and Curry all won Finals MVP, of course.
"Could the Jordan rules work now in today's NBA, let's say against Wembanyama or SGA?" Isiah Thomas: "We actually see San Antonio doing that with SGA. Right now the new name for it is boxes and elbows. And where you see where SGA likes to shoot from mid-range, they have a double-team trap set up for him at the elbow. So if he goes right, he's forced into a double-team. If he goes left, he's forced into a double-team. On the backline, they keep Wembanyama as a rim protector. And then they have a smaller player in rotation shooting out to the corners. That's why you see those corner threes right now that OKC is knocking down. Those are the ones that they're giving up because they're taking the elbow shots or the mid-range shots away from SGA. So it's similar to what we did with Jordan. We would force Jordan left, trap him going left. SGA is more of a passer than Jordan was at that particular time. Jordan was what we called a reluctant passer. He would actually take on the double-team as a challenge and try to score over the double-team as opposed to kicking it out. And when Phil Jackson came along, put him in the triangle and put those snipers around him, that's when everything changed."