New York Knicks fans were left crushed last summer when the team failed to sign Kevin Durant or any other star free agent, but perhaps they will land a consolation prize from the Durant camp that can help turn things around for the franchise.
The Knicks fired president of basketball operations Steve Mills on Tuesday, and a report claimed owner James Dolan could be looking to model his front office after those of the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors. Both of those teams have former player agents — Rob Pelinka and Bob Meyers — running their basketball operations departments. According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, Rich Kleiman is a name to watch if Dolan goes that route.
Kleiman is Durant’s manager and close friend. Berman reports that Kleiman has always wanted to run the Knicks, and he is one of the main reasons Durant at least considered signing with New York last offseason. There were rumblings that Durant would sign with the Knicks and Kleiman would join the team in a prominent front office role, but Durant instead decided to join Kyrie Irving with the Brooklyn Nets. Durant and Kleiman have a media and investment business together, Thirty Five Ventures, that is based in New York.
Durant is under contract with the Nets for three seasons and can opt out after that, so there’s still a chance he could wind up with the Knicks down the road. Even if not, the Knicks may believe that having someone like Kleiman who has a close relationship with one of the NBA’s best players will help their chances of landing future free agents.
One interesting side note from Berman is that Kleiman would likely hire Mark Jackson as head coach if he got the Knicks president job, as the two have a close relationship and Kleiman believed Jackson should have gotten the job over David Fizdale.
It’s pretty safe to assume that Dolan has one dream candidate in mind, but that situation is unlikely to play out. It makes sense that the Knicks owner would want to follow what the Warriors and Lakers have done, though free agents want to sign with those teams because they have been successful — not because former player agents run their front offices.
