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Ex-Knicks coach David Fizdale says team brass told him to tank during the 2018-19 season to try to get Zion Williamson or Ja Morant, while assuring him that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were coming to the Knicks the following summer. The Knicks went 17-65 that season with a roster that featured Tim Hardaway Jr. and Enes Kanter. “The plan that we came up with, I was all in on that, and I was like this is the deal and this is the way to go about it. It just didn’t come to fruition,” Fizdale said in an interview with @RunItBackFDTV. “...Losing all them damn games, donating my record to get Zion Williamson or Ja.”
Meantime, Durant and Irving flirted with the Knicks before signing with the rival Nets in the summer of 2019. Their partnership their never led to a championship, and Irving is now with the Mavericks while Durant is in Houston. “That summer our people seem to have thought KD and Kyrie for sure was coming to us, that s--t didn’t work out,” Fizdale added.
More than six years removed from his ugly run as Knicks head coach, David Fizdale blamed his terrible record on the front office. “If I was doing it over again, I would’ve fought more to build a team early on and not cash in my record,” Fizdale said on FanDuel TV’s show, “Run It Back.” “That’s the hard part for coaches when you agree to the tanking.”
David Fizdale on Heatles: The first year LeBron James wasn't posting really. By the second year, that's when he unleashed hell on the whole league cuz he was so angry and so like full of rage that his post game and his physical nature he attacked the game with that new spacing unleashed something to him and by the end of that year we were playing Chris Bosh at the five and that's when it really transformed everything. We also were willing to mix some switching which was not a Miami Heat thing, we were like we don't switch, but we had to get uncomfortable, we had to get out of the normal if we wanted to win, cuz that team wasn't normal, and so unfortunately we suffered one (losing 2011 Finals vs. Mavs) but the the next two don't happen if the first one doesn’t.
But once in Memphis, David Fizdale challenged Marc Gasol. His star did not respond well. Early in 2017, Fizdale benched Gasol in a loss to Brooklyn. One day later, he was fired. The details of the feud were complicated — disagreements about scheme, shifting power dynamics in the organization — but they underscored a truth: Brutal honesty sounds great in theory, but it’s not always a panacea for leadership. You still have to manage personalities and gain trust. You still have to employ a personal touch to pull it off. “I coached him how my high school coach would have coached me, where I tried to tear his ego down to the barest bones in front of the group,” Fizdale told Andscape in 2021. “I got caught up in my own ego and my emotions because I was so frustrated with the losing.”
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Former Grizzlies coach David Fizdale weighed in on the situation during a SiriusXM NBA Radio interview, suggesting the friction between Morant and the organization began last year when Memphis fired Taylor Jenkins just before the playoffs. “I don’t know what happened internally, but once you fire a coach of the caliber of Taylor Jenkins, that told me that something’s wrong,” Fizdale said. “He had the city supporting him, took the team to the second round of the playoffs. To see that firing told me things were not good there. It kind of seems like it’s coming out with Ja now.”
NBA TV will have 60 regular season games, beginning Oct. 25 when the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder visits the Atlanta Hawks, as well as games from the WNBA and the NBA’s development league The G League. There will also be a new flagship show called The Association, featuring hosts and contributors like MJ Acosta-Ruiz, David Fizdale, Rudy Gay, Chris Haynes and John Wall, among others. The Association effectively replaces NBA Gametime Live, which had been the flagship show produced by TNT Sports for the channel.
Marc J. Spears: Legendary former #NBA head coach and executive Bernie Bickerstaff honored by @BCAWORLDWIDE for his influence on the game and his outstanding coaching tree. JB Bickerstaff, Mike Brown, David Fizdale, Phil Handy, JJ Outlaw and others spoke the praises of the NBA pioneer tonight. pic.x.com/A9kXVnjBzg
Legendary former #NBA head coach and executive Bernie Bickerstaff honored by @BCAWORLDWIDE for his influence on the game and his outstanding coaching tree. JB Bickerstaff, Mike Brown, David Fizdale, Phil Handy, JJ Outlaw and others spoke the praises of the NBA pioneer tonight. pic.twitter.com/A9kXVnjBzg
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) July 14, 2025
John Gambadoro: Heard he will likely hire a former Head Coach as a top assistant, but I do not expect that to be Fizdale. Heard Stephen Silas was under consideration.
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After firing Mike Budenholzer on April 14 and naming Gregory as the new GM on May 1, the Suns embarked on a comprehensive coaching search. Gregory led a multi-round process that began with over 15 coaching interviews. A group of approximately eight candidates had second-round meetings before five -- Johnnie Bryant, Jordan Ott, Miami's Chris Quinn, Oklahoma City's Dave Bliss and current staff member David Fizdale -- advanced to in-person visits with team officials last week. Suns franchise cornerstone Devin Booker has been involved in the search process over the last seven to 10 days, sources said.
Marc J. Spears: Suns associate head coach and former NBA head coach David Fizdale is expected to be a part of a third round of interviews for the Suns head coach job. The former Grizzlies and Knicks head coach has the support of some key Suns players as well, sources said.
The Phoenix Suns are entering the finalist stage of their head coaching search after interviewing more than 15 candidates. They narrowed it down to nine: Cleveland Cavaliers assistants Jordan Ott and Johnnie Bryant, Oklahoma City Thunder assistant Dave Bliss, Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori, Dallas Mavericks assistant Sean Sweeney, Brooklyn Nets assistant Steve Hetzel, Miami Heat assistant Chris Quinn, New Orleans assistant James Borrego and Suns assistant David Fizdale.