The Knicks just lost their player development coach — and their challenge ace.
Scott King will take over as the head coach of the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s G-League affiliate.
The Post confirmed the move, which was first reported by ESPN.
King — well regarded in the Garden and in league circles — had not only risen to assistant director of player development, but was also in charge of coach’s challenges, responsible for advising head coach Tom Thibodeau with a thumbs up or down.
And it’s been an area of strength for the Knicks.
“In certain situations, we feel there’s an advantage to knowing that you’re 100 percent certain, that you’re still gonna have one,” Thibodeau said during the Knicks’ run to the Eastern Conference semifinals this past season, according to Yahoo! Sports.
Per Thibodeau, King had been researching challenge trends across the rest of the NBA. “And we’ve actually been very successful with it.”
Highly successful, in fact. With this past campaign being the first full season that teams had been awarded an additional challenge, the Knicks were more aggressive utilizing challenges early in games from the midway point on.
King, ubiquitous with his iPad ready to advise Thibodeau, was a huge part of that.
The Knicks won 47 challenges, the 11th most in the NBA.
They led the league in both total challenges (eight) and successful challenges (six) during the first round of the playoffs, saving an estimated 7.88 points, per Yahoo! Sports, in six games against the 76ers, a series that saw them outscore Philadelphia just 650-649.
King was largely responsible for that, along with two more successful reviews in their second-round opener against Indiana.
A former Stony Brook player, King had spent the last six years in the Garden, coming up through the video room as so many recent top coaches have.
After getting his initial job doing basketball operations for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants back in 2017, he was a video intern for the Pistons the next year.
King came to the Knicks as assistant video coordinator in 2019 and earned a promotion to assistant director of player development.
Some may recall King from a 2021-22 incident in which Julius Randle disrespectfully brushed the coach’s iPad away and walked off as he was trying to show the power forward something.
It wasn’t a good look for Randle, but the young coach was undaunted and stood up for himself.
Thibodeau downplayed the incident at the time and is said to hold King in high regard.
Now, he’ll have to replace his replay right-hand man.
