CBS Sports
Photo: CBS Sports

Mike Budenholzer was really close to taking over the New York Knicks in 2018, before hiring David Fizdale. According to Ian Begley of SNY.TV, Budenholzer was ready to pass on the chance on Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks in order to coach in the “Big Apple”.

“Discussions between the Knicks and Budenholzer in the 2018 offseason advanced to a point where some people, who would have come with Budenholzer to New York, were talking about places to live in the city because they felt Budenholzer was close to taking the job, per SNY sources.

One official from an opposing team involved in searches at the time confirmed that coaching the Knicks intrigued Budenholzer. ‘Bud was definitely interested,’ the team official said recently,” Begley noted, per NBC Sports.

Despite that, the Arizona native coach chose the safer path of getting to a talented team with an emerging superstar in the squad. Coach “Bud” molded the Bucks into a title contender by bringing up a more modern offensive style based.

On the other hand, the Knicks hired David Fizdale that season, but after almost one disappointing year in the East, they fired him last December.