The NBA Awards are out, and while most of the attention went to the winners, one figure from the Coach of the Year voting has Knicks fans really surprised.
Mike Brown has lead New York the NBA Finals in just the first his year as a coach, by way of an 11-game playoff winning streak that has the whole league talking.
This is a team that won the NBA Cup, finished 53-29 in the regular season, swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, and is now one of three teams left standing.
When the Coach of the Year votes came in, something surprising happened with the coach behind all of that.
Why Mike Brown Got Zero NBA Coach of the Year Votes
GettyNew York Knicks Head Coach Mike Brown receives zero votes.
The official voting results were shared by @NBA_NewYork on X. It was not just that Brown did not win. It was not even that he finished outside the top three. He did not receive a single vote across all three categories.
Joe Mazzulla won the 2026 NBA Coach of the Year award, pulling 62 first-place votes out of 100.
J.B. Bickerstaff of the Detroit Pistons finished second, and Mitch Johnson of the San Antonio Spurs was third. Coaches like Jordan Ott in Phoenix and Mark Daigneault in Oklahoma City picked up votes too.
Now, from a regular season perspective, there is some merit to the Mazzulla argument. Even though Jayson Tatum was out for a considerable amount of time, the Celtics still managed to finish with a 56-26 record under his guidance.
The Knicks ended up at 53-29, and unfortunately, a difficult 2-9 run in January worsened Brown’s image. It was a difficult decision to come up with either first or second place.
However, no votes for third place? Brown not only guided the Knicks to their first trophy in 53 years through the NBA Cup in December but also after the 2-9 spell in January had a very different end of the season.
He ultimately equaled Pat Riley’s record of 51 wins set in his first season as Knicks head coach in 1991-92. This is indeed a historic start, by any account.
Mike Brown Took the Knicks to the NBA Finals in His First Year as Head Coach
GettyMike Brown New York Knicks
The voting closed before the playoffs, so that part is understandable. But what Brown has done in his first year as Knicks head coach tells the fuller story. Riding an 11-game playoff winning streak, the Knicks are now in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.
Through 14 playoff games, the Knicks own the highest point differential of any team entering the NBA Finals, ever.
Brown was questioned at every turn this season and seemingly was coaching for his job this postseason. He answered every time.
The NBA Finals are next. If Brown wins a championship in his first year in New York, this zero is going to look a lot worse in hindsight.
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