Mike Brown (basketball, born 1970)

Michael Burton Brown (born March 5, 1970) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Brown was previously the head coach of the Sacramento Kings, Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers, as well as an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. He also served as the head coach of the Nigerian national team from 2020 until 2022, coaching the team at the 2020 Olympic Games. Brown began coaching the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2005. The team reached the 2007 NBA Finals, where they were swept by the San Antonio Spurs. Brown was honored as NBA Coach of the Year for leading the Cavaliers to a team-record and league-best 66 wins in 2009. The Cavaliers won 61 games, again a league-best, in 2010. However, after the Cavaliers lost to the Boston Celtics in the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals, Brown was fired. Brown succeeded Phil Jackson as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2011 before being dismissed five games into the 2012–13 season. He returned to the Cavaliers in 2013, but was fired after one season. Brown then joined the Golden State Warriors as associate head coach in 2016; the team went on to defeat the Cavaliers in the 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals, and the Boston Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals. He departed from the Warriors in 2022 to become the head coach of the Sacramento Kings. In his first year as head coach, Brown led the Kings to their first playoff appearance in 17 years, snapping the longest playoff drought in NBA history. For his efforts, Brown became the first-ever unanimous NBA Coach of the Year award winner and was named to the NBCA Coach of the Year award in 2023. In 2025, he became the head coach of the New York Knicks.