Dropping LB: Knicks Fire Brown, Plan To Withhold Money

Brown Out: Knicks Trying To Withhold Remaining $40M On Contract

The Knicks on Thursday dismissed coach Larry Brown and are “trying to terminate” his contract, which calls for him to earn $40M over the next four years, according to Frank Isola of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. The Knicks contend Brown violated terms of his agreement “by trying to independently negotiate trades” with GMs. The Knicks also claim that MSG Chair James Dolan was “prepared to retain Brown if the coach agreed to certain conditions, including focusing only on his coaching responsibilities and ceasing to criticize players through the media.” Dolan fired Brown after he told team officials “that he knows only one way to coach.” A source said that Brown has a clause in his contract designating NBA Commissioner David Stern as an arbitrator in the “event of a financial dispute” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/23). In N.Y., Marc Berman reports the Knicks maintain Brown “also violated their media policy the past few weeks with his roadside interviews with beat writers without a [PR] person present.” Brown said that the issue of “docking his money never came up in the meeting” with Dolan, which was also attended by Knicks President of Basketball Operations Isiah Thomas and MSG Sports President & COO Steve Mills. Brown: “He didn’t say anything to me about that. He just told me I was fired” (N.Y. POST, 6/23).