The NBA held a conference call on Thursday with teams that would be eligible to participate in their Chicago bubble, which would be an alternative for the teams that did not qualify for the 22-team restart in Orlando. Only one of the eight teams did not participate in the call, and that was the New York Knicks.
According to the New York Post’s Marc Berman, the Knicks did not intentionally miss the call. Rather, they were interviewing head coaching candidates via video, according to an ESPN report. They reportedly were interviewing Lakers assistant Jason Kidd and Spurs assistant Will Hardy.
Berman says the Knicks don’t prefer games but would rather have young players start training camp early after the draft.
Knicks reportedly were only one of 8 teams not on call regarding proposal to have Chicago bubble in September for mini-camps, games. Told Knicks don’t care for games and would want just their young players. Their preference is to start training camp early after draft.
— Marc Berman (@NYPost_Berman) July 2, 2020
Per source, Knicks didn't intentionally miss the NBA call about Chicago bubble. They're not in favor of games but were in process of coaching interviews and still want to do something OTAs-wise.
— Marc Berman (@NYPost_Berman) July 2, 2020
According to ESPN’s article, many teams would prefer to have their own camps and team activities for their players, but the NBPA wants the Chicago bubble to follow the same protocol as the Orlando bubble.
The Knicks are interviewing multiple candidates for their head coaching vacancy, though reports have suggested there may be a favorite. They fired David Fizdale after a 4-18 start. Mike Miller went 17-27 before the season was suspended in March.
