Former Portland Trail Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks is joining the New York Knicks as an assistant under Tom Thibodeau, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Hall of Fame guard, who has three stints as an NBA head coach, most recently served on Billy Donovan’s staff with the Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Cheeks, 67, has a coaching career spanning three decades, beginning in 1994 with the Philadelphia 76ers, where he also played from 1978 to 1989.
His first head coaching role was with the Blazers from 2001 to 2005, leading them to the playoffs in 2002 and 2003. He later returned to the 76ers as head coach and had a short stint with the Detroit Pistons in the 2013-14 season. Cheeks has mainly worked as an assistant coach in recent years, including time with the Thunder (2015-20) and Bulls (2020-24). Now, he takes on a new role with the Knicks, a top contender in the Eastern Conference.