The New York Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau is one of the most controversial head coaches in the sport. He’s a hard-nosed, defense-focused, and intense leader who doesn’t accept mediocrity. He’s well-known for his relentless practice drills and commitment to toughness, regardless of the situation. Although his players always defend him, often saying he’s much more relaxed behind the scenes than reported, Thibs will never shake his reputation. During his Knicks tenure, one topic has dominated the discourse surrounding Tom Thibodeau: minutes. While some of the critiques are certainly fair, the narrative has perhaps gone too far.
Rash of NBA Injuries Quieting Tom Thibodeau’s Minutes Police
On Monday, NBA fans received three sobering pieces of injury news. Magic guard Jalen Suggs underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and will miss the rest of the season. Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. rolled his left ankle in a nasty fashion while contesting a layup. Worst of all, heartbreaking news came out of Dallas: Kyrie Irving, who was enjoying an incredible season, tore his left ACL and will be out indefinitely. A powerful moment was borne when Irving was helped to the free-throw line, where he made both before exiting the game. Mavericks fans have had their hearts ripped out once again in what will go down as arguably the most devastating month for one franchise in NBA history.
A moment of pure determination for Kyrie Irving.
After suffering an injury, Kyrie was helped to the line to take his free throws before exiting the game.
He made both. 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/hJDDRTDLg7
— NBA (@NBA) March 4, 2025
In what was a tough night in another injury-riddled NBA season, at least Knicks supporters can find some solace in their team’s health. Despite all of the chatter about Thibodeau playing his starters too many minutes, their best six players have been remarkably healthy all season. All five starters have played over 35 minutes per game, ranking in the top 23 in the sport. Furthermore, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges are first and second in MPG in 2024-25. This has been a topic of intense discussion around the league, with many predicting major injury and fatigue.
Knicks Have Been Healthy All Year, and Are Now at Their Best
With all of the seemingly indefensible decisions Thibodeau has made, from having his starters out there in blowouts to heavy minutes on back-to-backs to keeping injured players on the floor, New York’s top six players have missed a total of just 26 games. Their seventh guy, Mitchell Robinson, was injured on a questionable play by Joel Embiid in last year’s playoffs. To summarize, no Knick has been significantly hurt by an overuse malady yet in 2025. They’re now fully healthy with Robinson back in the fold, and OG Anunoby, Hart, and Karl-Anthony Towns have seemed to shake off their minor injuries. This isn’t to say that Thibodeau shouldn’t exercise caution until the playoffs with NY essentially locked into the three seed. Rather, that basketball players playing a lot of basketball isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and the results have shown that.
NY Has Been a Healthy Team For Most of Thibs’ Tenure
Looking back through Thibodeau’s five Knicks’ seasons, starting in 2020-21, you’ll find that only 2023-24 was significantly altered by injuries. NY was lucky in 2021 and 2022, and only Julius Randle was hampered in 2023 with a late-season ankle injury. 2024 was filled with injuries to players such as Randle, Anunoby, and Robinson, and Thibs responded by playing his guys heavy minute loads. We’ll never know whether or not their injury-plagued playoff flameout was caused by overuse.
Again, this isn’t an argument for everything Thibodeau does concerning minutes. He needs to do a better job resting important players in blowouts and back-t0-backs, or when they’re banged up. Thibs should be careful with minutes over the final 22 games to ensure NY reaches the playoffs healthy. It’s an argument that the narratives that he damages his players with overuse are overstated. Injuries are an unfortunately massive part of basketball, and NY has actually been a durable team during his time there.
Photo credit: © Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
